Solar Farm fire risk is very real when the solar farm contains a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). On this page, we explain what this means to local residents living near the proposed development.

In summary, and using RWE’s own methodology , we believe that a likelihood of fire of almost one in five during the life time of the solar farm is too high given the potential consequences for residents’ health and permanent environmental contamination.

Fire Risk

What is risk?

Risk can be thought of as the combination of likelihood and consequence. An event has a higher risk if it is either more likely to occur, has serious consequences when it does, or both.

BESS Fire Consequence

BESS fires can have severe consequences, particularly if “thermal runaway occurs”. A briefing note from professor Peter Dobson OBE states “During a thermal runaway incident many toxic and harmful gaseous and particulate emissions are released, usually requiring evacuation of surrounding areas. Further environmental hazards result not only from these toxic emissions to air and ground, but also from the millions of litres of water cooling which is applied to the affected area to help prevent the fire spreading. This results in toxic compounds in the firewater run-off. Fluorinated compounds in the fumes and the firewater are toxic – even in small amounts – and have a long lifetime in the environment, which could last for decades”.

BESS Fire Likelihood

In their planning application, RWE’s safety management plan states a fire rate per hour for BESS’s of 0.000000186 per hour. This equates to a 6.32% chance of one or more fires in the lifetime of a single BESS during the expected 40-year lifetime of the solar farm.

However, their calculation is predicated on there only having been a single BESS fire in the UK. So far in 2025 there have been three further BESS fires in the UK. Extrapolating RWE’s methodology to incorporate these fires, even allowing for the increase in operating hours since July 2024, raises the likelihood of one or more fires at Monksfield Solar Farm in its lifetime to 19.41%, almost one in five!

RWE’s safety report was produced by a risk management consultancy and RWE’s representative stated in a public meeting at Powick Village Hall that RWE were very confident in their risk calculation.

Our interpretation

Given the proximity of the development to local population, local water courses such as Carey’s Brook and local wildlife including protected species, we believe that this risk is too high.

Furthermore, we believe that stating the likelihood of risk in hours rather than years or as we have done, the lifetime of the development is a further attempt to mislead planning officers, the public and their elected representatives.

Lack of water supply

The challenges in getting water to these remote locations was made clear, ironically, by a fire at Monksfield Farm in 2016. Click the image below to read more.