PVTIME – A significant fire broke out at a battery energy storage site in the Stâlpu area of Buzău County, Romania, at 23:30 local time on 26 August. Local fire brigades responded overnight and had brought the flames under control by the early hours of 27 August. There were no reported injuries or fatalities from the incident. Official public disclosures have yet to confirm the facility’s exact capacity or its operating entity.
The blaze started inside a storage building belonging to a 5.35MW solar-plus-storage project. The structure, which spans around 500 square metres, housed densely arranged battery hardware, enabling the fire to spread quickly and consume the entire building. There are two storage buildings on the site, each of which is equipped with fire detection and suppression systems. Only one building suffered fire damage. The second unit escaped direct combustion, but heavy smoke accumulation prompted urgent smoke extraction and safety risk assessments.
Upon arrival, fire crews encountered substantial operational hazards as the building was already fully alight. The battery-related risks, including intense heat, dense smoke, potential re-ignition and deflagration, forced the crews to adopt defensive firefighting tactics from roughly 200 metres away. Emergency teams installed protective barriers to shield two adjacent oil-immersed power transformers, averting potential secondary disasters.
Domestic authorities have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the fire. Evaluations of equipment damage and subsequent remedial measures are ongoing.
