“Dangerous heat” incident puts thermal energy storage pilot on hold

New South Wales energy storage start-up MGA Thermal has temporarily suspended operations at its pilot plant in Tomago after a “dangerous heat build-up” at the facility had to be brought under control with the help of emergency services.

The incident occurred during the commissioning of MGA’s $3 million, 5MWh plant that is demonstrating the company’s proprietary thermal storage technology that uses metal blocks to store energy as heat.

The technology, which earlier this year won backing from global oil major Shell, works by stacking the blocks of Miscibility Gap Alloys (MGA) into insulated tanks to store huge amounts of energy for use in a range of applications.

As RenewEconomy has reported, the pilot – intended to charge and discharge in the form of steam at up to 500kW for 10 hours – was expected to operate at temperatures of 400°C to 700°C. But on Friday, during commissioning, temperatures jumped higher than expected.

New South Wales Fire and Rescue says crews were called to a machinery fire at the Tomago facility just after 5am on Friday morning to find an incident of an “unusual nature” unfolding.

The first responders said they found “a large device inside a factory that was storing heat to generate electricity,” but which had gone from normal temperatures of 700°C degrees to 1200°C degrees, causing small fires to flare up and threatening a possible explosion.

“Due to the unusual nature and large device size, the incident quickly escalated, and numerous specialists were consulted in person and remotely,” said Jeremy Fewtrell, deputy commissioner of field operations at NSW Fire and Rescue, in a post on Facebook.

On Friday morning, roads around the plant were closed and 15 businesses were evacuated, but the situation was reported to be under control and the machinery stablised by the late afternoon.

Firefighters said they used a Bulk Carbon Dioxide Tanker to spray CO2 onto the over-heated machinery as well as dry chemical powder extinguishers to douse burning electrical cables at the site.

No one was injured and no further property damage occurred.

“I visited the incident this afternoon and was impressed by the first and subsequent actions of our crews at an incident type we had not attended before,” said Fewtrell on Friday.

“After speaking with the site representatives, who were devastated by the events of today, I encouraged them to find their feet and continue their innovative efforts to produce green and clean energy.”

In a statement emailed to RenewEconomy on Monday, an MGA Thermal spokesperson said operations of the demonstration unit were temporarily suspended while the company finalised its investigation and learnings.

“It is a reminder that we are working on cutting-edge technology, innovating new large-scale energy storage, and the importance of in-house trials,” the email said.

“The learnings will help accelerate the development of our Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system, and MGA Thermal remains committed to moving our company forward, with investor support in place.

“The market need for industrial decarbonisation solutions and long-term energy storage solutions for solar, wind and other renewable energy sources remains evident and significant. Our MGA technology is a crucial piece of that puzzle.”

“We are continuing to work toward our vision of making 24/7 renewable energy a reality.”

MGA Thermal secured $8 million in investment in 2021, led by CSIRO’s venture fund Main Sequence, and $1.27 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) last year.

In August this year, a further $8.25 million was raised towards completing MGA’s first factory production line in Newcastle to produce the MGA blocks.