The 10th annual Energy Storage Systems Safety and Reliability Forum, a premier event dedicated to improved energy storage safety and reliability was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico from June 2-4, 2026.
Energy storage system safety and reliability refers to the safe and reliable design, installation, operation, incident response, and decommissioning of energy storage systems. Organized by Sandia and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with support from the DOE Office of Electricity, the Energy Storage Safety and Reliability Forum provides a critical platform to connect key stakeholders and advance contributions to the field.
Proceedings and presentations from the 2026 forum are available below. To view a presentation or poster as a downloadable PDF, click the presentation or poster title.
Tuesday, June 2
BESS Safety and Reliability Tutorials
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Welcoming Remarks from DOE | Mohamed Kamaludeen | DOE Office of Electricity |
| Tutorial Opening Remarks and Objectives | Yuliya Preger | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Topic 1: What causes thermal runaway? | Nathan Johnson/ Loraine Torres-Castro | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Topic 2: Taming the Beast: System designs to address cell-level safety concerns | Jim McDowall | McDowall Advisors, IEEE Fellow |
| Topic 3: What if Systems Fail? | Matthew Paiss | Sandia National Laboratories |
Forum Welcome and Opening Remarks
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Remarks | Loraine Torres-Castro | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Welcoming Remarks from DOE and Safety Forum 10 Year Retrospective | Mohamed Kamaludeen | DOE Office of Electricity |
| Keynote Presentation: National Evaluation of BESS Reliability | Jack Norris | North American Electric Reliability Corporation |
Session 1: Affordable Next-Generation Battery Chemistries: Are Our Validation Methods Keeping Up?
Emerging chemistries, materials, and architectures — and how safety validation evolves alongside innovation
Moderator: Will McNamara, Sandia National Laboratories
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Session Introduction | Will McNamara | Sandia National Laboratories |
| De-risking Emerging Chemistries: A Multi-Scale Approach to Na-ion and Solid-State Safety | Nathan Johnson | Sandia National Laboratories |
| The Sodium Safety Ladder: Climbing from Molecular Stability to Pack-Level Reliability | Heather Platt | Mana Battery |
| Near Real Time Diagnosis and Prognosis framework for Redox Flow Batteries | Jie Bao | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| A Mechanistic Investigation of the Relationship Between Battery Energy and Capacity | Matthieu Dubarry | University of Hawaii at Manoa |
| Zinc Batteries Today | Dan Lambert | ZincFive |
Day 1 Closing Remarks and Reception
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Closing Remarks | Vinod Siberry | DOE Office of Electricity |
| Welcome Reception at National Museum of Nuclear Science & History Sponsored by UL Research Institutes | Electrochemical Safety and Energy Safety Response Group |
Wednesday, June 3
Day 2 Welcome and Opening Remarks
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Day 2 Opening Remarks | Yuliya Preger | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Opening Remarks | Eric Hsieh | DOE Office of Electricity |
Session 2: Why Do Energy Storage Systems Still Surprise Us? Bridging the Gap Between Component Testing and System Reality
How cell-level tests translate (or fail to translate) into full-system safety and reliability performance
Moderator: Vincent Sprenkle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Session Introduction | Vincent Sprenkle | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| Thermal Runaway at Scale: Analyzing ESS Safety with Module to Rack Scale Models | Andrew Kurzawski | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Thermal Runaway of Lithium-ion Batteries and Fire Suppression in an Aircraft Cargo Compartment | Byoungchul Kwon | ULRI – Electrochemical Safety Research Institute |
| From Failure to Fallout: Environmental Impacts of the Vistra Moss Landing Battery Fire and Implications for Monitoring Following ESS Failures | Maxime Grand | San Jose State University |
| From Cell to Module: Li-ion Battery Performance under Grid Duty Cycles | Daiwon Choi | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
Session 3: What Does ‘Safe’ Really Mean? Defining Quantifiable Risk Thresholds for Energy Storage Systems
Probabilistic risk assessment, thermal runaway metrics, failure probability, and measurable safety performance
Moderator: Loraine Torres-Castro, Sandia National Laboratories
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Session Introduction | Loraine Torres-Castro | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Thermal Runaway Thresholds at Cell Level Affected by Chemistry, Capacity and State-of-Charge | Hsin Wang | Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
| Distributed Energy Storage Systems in Data Centers and the Need for Clear and Standard Reporting of Diagnostics/Prognostics and Hazard Communications | Brian Engle | Amphenol |
| Stacking the Odds in Our Favor: Methods for creating safe and reliable batteries used in other industries need to be applied to ESS | Beth Schroeder | Belay Energy Solutions |
| Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) arc flash model verification and validation | David Rosewater | Sandia National Laboratories |
Session 4: Field Performance Under Real Operating Conditions: What Deployment Data Reveals About Reliability
Operational data, degradation trends, failure modes, and lessons learned
Moderator: Waylon Clark, Sandia National Laboratories
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Session Introduction | Waylon Clark | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Insights from the Field: A Decade of Data on Battery Reliability and Safety | Aron Patrick | PPL |
| Supporting Local Jurisdictions with Practical Siting and Permitting Help | Jeremy Twitchell | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| BESS Risk and Failure Statistics | Lakshmi Srinivasan | Electric Power Research Institute |
| NFPP Operating Data: Raising the Ceiling on BESS Reliability | Hugh Ross | Peak Energy |
Session 5: Safety Considerations for Emerging Applications: New Duty Profiles, New Reliability Expectations
New use cases/duty profiles and how this creates new requirements for safety/reliability
Moderator: Yuliya Preger, Sandia National Laboratories
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Session Introduction | Yuliya Preger | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Passively Safe by Design: A Ruthlessly Simple Approach to Second-Life BESS Safety | Andrew Hoover | Redwood Materials |
| Home Energy Storage: Science vs Fear | Jason Bobruk | Enphase |
| ESS in High-Density AI Infrastructure: Systems, Safety, and Standards | Josh Gerber | Symphonic Energy |
| Safety: The Overlooked Metric in BESS LTSA Availability | Adam Han | AEES Consulting |
Day 2 Closing Remarks and Dinner
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Closing Remarks | Vinod Siberry | DOE Office of Electricity |
| Dinner & Keynote Presentation Sponsored by CleanTech Strategies | Russ Weed | CleanTech Strategies |
Thursday, June 4
Day 3 Welcome and Opening Remarks
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Day 3 Opening Remarks | Ray Byrne | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Opening Remarks | Kenny Kort | DOE Office of Electricity |
Session 6: Lessons Written in Fire: What Incidents Teach Us (Panel)
Moderator: Matthew Paiss, Chair NFPA 800 Battery Safety Code
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Session Introduction | Matthew Paiss | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Panel Session Michael O’Brian slides Victoria Hutchison slides | Ankit Sharma Michael O’Brian Jan Gromadzki Victoria Hutchison | Jensen Hughes Brighton Area Fire Department Tesla Energy Safety Response Group |
Session 7: What Don’t You Know That Could Break Everything? The Standards and Public Information Gap Behind Safe and Reliable Deployment (Panel)
Standards alignment, data sharing, AI, industry best practices, and how dissemination accelerates safety improvements
Moderator: Jackie Huynh, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Session Introduction | Jackie Huynh | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| Panel Session Jamie Kolln slides Jody Leber slides | Jamie Kolln Andrew Hoover LaTanya Schwalb Jody Leber | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Redwood Materials UL Solutions CSA Group |
Day 3 Closing Remarks and Forum Adjourns
| Presentation | Speaker | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Event Recap | Loraine Torres-Castro Yuliya Preger | Sandia National Laboratories |
| Closing Remarks | Mohamed Kamaludeen | DOE Office of Electricity |
Posters
Interview Videos
Gallery
The Safety and Reliability Forum is organized by a collaboration between Sandia National Laboratories and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity’s Energy Storage Division.