EMSA Guidance on the Safety of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) on board ships

The development of the Guidance was supported by an extensive Group of Experts including the Maritime Battery Forum, bringing to the table 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 (Publications - Study on Electrical Energy Storage for Ships - EMSA - European Maritime Safety Agency (europa.eu)), functional requirements were developed, using li-ion technology as reference, to mitigate the risks of these systems at the design, installation, and operation stages.