Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

Safety Guidance on battery energy storage systems on-board ships

The EMSA Guidance on the Safety of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) On-board Ships aims at supporting maritime administrations and the industry by promoting a uniform implementation of the essential safety requirements for batteries on-board of ships.

EMSA, with the support of the European Commission, the Member States and industry, has drawn-up this non-mandatory Guidance to guide national administrations and industry, and which aims for a uniform implementation of the essential safety requirements for battery energy storage systems on board of ships. The development of the Guidance was supported by an extensive Group of Experts, who brought essential knowledge on the requirements of classification societies, industry standards and available research.

The scope is limited to lithium-ion batteries due to their prevalent uptake in the industry. With respect to traditional technologies, there is a change in the risk profile of this type of batteries mainly due to fire and explosion caused by the thermal runaway and off-gas generation. Based on available literature shared by the group of experts and previous EMSA studies, functional requirements were developed, using li-ion technology as reference, to mitigate the risks of these systems at the design, installation, and operation stages.