Gov't, LGES face scrutiny after state data center fire
Burnt lithium-ion batteries for uninterruptible power supply are immersed in water tanks at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon, Sunday, following Friday's fire at the central state data center. Yonhap
All eyes on cause of explosion
LG Energy Solution (LGES) is facing scrutiny after it was revealed that the company supplied the batteries that exploded Friday at the state data center and sparked a fire in a server room.
The resulting disruption to hundreds of online government services has prompted worry among the battery maker’s investors about a potential sharp decline in the company’s stock price in the coming week. However, industry officials raised the possibility that human error may have occurred during the relocation of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems inside the facility.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, LGES supplied its lithium-ion batteries between 2012 and 2013 to power the UPS systems installed at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon. Along with the batteries, LG CNS provided its battery management system to a UPS system manufacturer.
Firefighters move a burnt lithium-ion battery from the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon, Saturday, following Friday's fire at the state data center. Yonhap
The interior ministry, which oversees NIRS, said sparks were produced when outsourced workers moved the facility’s UPS systems to a basement floor. The workers were attempting to separate the batteries from the servers, taking into account the 2022 outage of Kakao’s and Naver’s online services, which was caused by a battery fire at SK C&C’s data center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
The National Fire Agency, also under the interior ministry’s supervision, said it is believed those sparks triggered thermal runaway — an uncontrollable increase in temperature when the heat generated inside a lithium-ion battery outpaces the heat that can escape.
“The workers shut off the power supply to disconnect cables, but sparks were still produced under certain conditions, and that caused the fire,” an NIRS official told reporters. “The specific cause of the fire will be determined after further investigation.”
Fire authorities supported this explanation, saying sparks erupted from one of the batteries disconnected from the power supply.
At this moment, LGES has been cautious about issuing an official response.
“We will announce our position once the cause of the fire has been clearly determined,” an LGES spokesperson said.
Still, speculation persists that the workers may not have actually turned off the power supply before trying to disconnect the cables.
Since UPS systems use direct current, cutting the power supply is crucial to preventing fires during relocation. If the cables are disconnected without shutting off the power, the voltage can spike suddenly and trigger a blaze.
“The fire is believed to have resulted from human error,” a battery industry official said on condition of anonymity.
Industry officials said the batteries in question passed a safety check in June. Identical products at other facilities have never exploded or caused a fire before the recent data center blaze.
NIRS is also facing criticism for failing to replace its batteries after the 10-year warranty expired.