SWITCH Open Meeting - January 9, 2026
You are invited to join the sustainable energy community of south eastern Ontario!
When: January 9, 2026 | 8:00am
Where: via Zoom
FREE Event!
BESS: Trends and Safety Considerations
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are becoming the go to technology for normalizing electrical energy supply and demand, creating revenue through peak shaving and supplementing existing combustion, hydro and nuclear technologies. BESS implementation is rapidly growing, and along with its increased use comes increase incidents of catastrophic failure that makes the news. But what are the realities of BESS implementation. How does different battery chemistry impact potential safety, and what guidelines are in place to ensure this rapidly evolving technology is as safe as possible. This talk will explore the growth in BESS deployment, the current safety guidelines and perspectives from the fire service on how best to handle an incident, when there is a thermal runaway event.
DAVID HYNDMAN is the President and Board Chair of SWITCH. He is also the Chief Science Officer at FireRein, a Napanee-based fire suppression technology development company. As such he has a unique perspective on the roll out of BESS technologies from a community safety and fire suppression tactics standpoint.
Dr. Hyndman has a PhD from Queen's University and has divided his career between academic positions and working in the startup world. Previously he supported entrepreneurs through the Industry Partnerships office at Queen's, and currently he works to support novel applications for FireRein's Eco-Gel fire suppression product, including use for Lithium-Ion battery fires.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://queensu.zoom.us/j/95959154826?pwd=lBGV9YxhhDOyGdOK2x5sDsMR2crrB1.1
Meeting ID: 959 5915 4826
Passcode: 991969
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