Social Construction of the ESS Fires in Korea: Focusing on Social Context Changes and the Stakeholders’ Experiences

Abstract

This dissertation deals with the relationship between continuous fire accidents in ESS and social factors that affected the fire causes. A total of 28 ESS fires occurred from 2017 to 2019. The continuous ESS fire accidents, which were highly expected to be a game-changer in the energy transition, became a social issue. The government conducted two official accidents investigations, but several limitations were revealed. Official investigations primarily focused on technical flaws, insufficient independence of the investigation committee due to the committee composition by the government initiative, and the reliability of the investigation results was questioned as the two investigations presented contradictory results on battery fire issues. This dissertation tries to supplement the limitations of ESS fire accident investigation and analyzes in-depth the influence of factors such as social context on fire accidents. First, the process by which stakeholders adopt ESS technology is reviewed. In this process, social contexts such as politics, economy, and culture are explored for stakeholders and the impact of fires. Accordingly, qualitative data are collected through literature research and expert interviews, and the conclusion of this study is drawn through semantic network analysis and thematic analysis. Furthermore, it improves the causes of ESS fire accidents and redefines the development direction of ESS technology. ESS technology, which can solve the intermittency issue of renewable energy generation, is becoming more critical. The government provided a strong policy drive for ESS by the provision of REC 5.0. The strong economic incentives provided to ESS elicited a response from the private sector and changed the social context. Various stakeholders interacted to accomplish their goals by utilizing ESS technology. In this process, stakeholders faced conflicts and negotiated on the adoption of ESS technology as a technical artifact. ESS technology became a Black box as it was recognized as an unquestionable scientific fact, and ESS installations have increased rapidly. However, due to fire accidents, it was necessary to review the inside of the Black box (ESS technology). In this study, the inside of the Black box is analyzed by applying the mixed method approach. First, Semantic Network Analysis was conducted based on interview transcripts. As a result, various issues such as communication problems among stakeholders and lack of risk perception were derived. Furthermore, based on the derived issues, Thematic Analysis was conducted. Various factors that can influence the occurrence of fires were identified in the social context and interaction of various stakeholders. In particular, the interactions of stakeholders generate adverse outcomes, such as structural problems, complex communication issues, disqualification of fire risks, and normalization of deviance. These interactions could lead to ESS fire accidents. ESS fire case showed that ESS technology is socially constructed and is operating as a means for pursuing profit. Limitations in the utilization of ESS technology that stakeholders could not consider the internal risks of technology have been revealed. ESS technology was recognized as Black box without any questions or doubts, and several unexpected adverse outcomes were caused in the process of utilizing ESS by stakeholders. This dissertation has the significances of supplementing the limitations of the official accident investigation by examining the effects of social factors on fire accidents. In addition, this dissertation could provide a stepping stone for reconstructing the development direction of ESS technology, considering stakeholders' perceptions of ESS technology.