20.11.2025
For the fourth year now, Ukraine has been living under attack. We are accustomed to thinking that the main destruction is caused by the explosion itself, but in reality, critical processes continue long after—when flames enter cable shafts and the temperature inside a container persists for hours. It is at this moment that it becomes obvious: the energy of the future relies not only on generation capacity but also on the fire resistance of the systems that ensure its continuity. First in this line stand Energy Storage Systems (ESS).
Ukraine is rapidly entering the era of ESS. Businesses, communities, medical facilities, and the private sector are all installing battery systems for backup, grid balancing, and the integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). According to market estimates, in 2024–2025 alone, the volume of ESS could double, with total capacity exceeding one gigawatt-hour. This is a correct and logical step, but at the same time, it is the riskiest element of the new energy architecture.
Lithium-ion systems are a key element of modern energy infrastructure. However, they do not forgive mistakes. An ESS fire is not a fire that can be easily extinguished with water. It is thermal runaway—a chemical process in which the temperature inside a module can rise to a thousand degrees and spiral out of control. In such moments, the system ceases to be a technical solution and transforms into a source of risk that moves forward, module by module, until something stops the spread.
Active fire suppression tools are necessary, but they only work once a fire has already broken out. In energy storage systems, critical damage arises not so much from the ignition itself as from uncontrolled thermal load. That is why the issue of passive fire protection becomes a foundational element of their reliability.
Passive protection works even before a fire occurs. It determines whether the temperature remains within the limits of a single module and whether the structure withstands the heat shock. It determines if the cable route remains operational. It determines whether the team will have enough time—not seconds, but minutes, sometimes tens of minutes—to stop a scenario that could turn into a catastrophe.
Technologies like PYRO-SAFE and other SVT solutions, which are certified by European standards and applied at nuclear power plants in Germany, tunnels in Austria, and transport hubs in Switzerland, represent an engineering school that has spent decades forming a safety culture capable of withstanding critical loads. Without this culture, ESS in Ukraine turn into small chemical reactors within the power grid—and this is a reality that must be discussed honestly.
One ESS fire can shut down a facility for 60–90 days. In the USA in 2023, there were at least 12 major incidents, most of which resulted in prolonged downtime and multimillion-dollar losses. In most cases, the cause was the same: the absence or improper integration of passive protection.
Another level of protection is autonomous fire suppression systems, such as the European BlazeCut systems. They work where human intervention is physically impossible: in control cabinets, small volumes, and isolated technical segments where a few seconds are enough for a local problem to grow into a general accident. This is an additional barrier that localizes the problem before it becomes a threat to the entire facility. In the context of ESS, this is the difference between the failure of a single module and the loss of an entire container.
Today, this is becoming a key question not only for technical teams but also for investors. Over the next five years, Ukraine will receive significant investments in energy modernization, and energy storage systems will be at the center of this transformation. However, no international financial institution in 2025 will support a project that lacks high-quality and compliant fire protection. In the EU, this is the first question of an audit; in the USA, it is a requirement of NFPA 855. Ukraine is no exception. We are part of the global market, so we must play by global rules.
Energy independence is not measured in kilowatts. It is measured by whether the system can withstand a blow—and whether it can operate afterward. ESS is the heart of the new energy sector. Passive protection is its armor. And today, as Ukrainian companies massively invest in backup and storage systems, the real question is not about capacity or brand. It is much simpler and much more complex at the same time: will this system work after the first incident?
This is a responsibility we share among ourselves—engineers, integrators, companies, and the state. And it is precisely on this responsibility that it depends whether Ukraine becomes energy-resilient not just in words, but in reality.
