As battery energy storage systems move into larger and denser configurations, fire and explosion risk has become one of the industry’s most closely scrutinized engineering challenges. At Wärtsilä Energy Storage, Mishaal SyedNaveed has focused his work on that challenge. That combination of utility experience, product engineering, testing, and standards work has made SyedNaveed a finalist for POWER’s 2026 Rising Star Award.
SyedNaveed is product manager for fire protection at Wärtsilä Energy Storage, where he focuses on product development, compliance, verification, and risk assessment for the company’s GridSolve battery energy storage system portfolio. A licensed Professional Engineer in fire protection, he has experience in risk engineering, design, loss prevention, and code consulting across the energy industry.
His work at Wärtsilä has centered on translating battery fire and explosion hazards into engineering requirements, test programs, and product design. According to his Rising Star nomination, SyedNaveed played a central technical role in the company’s 2025 fire safety testing for the 5-MWh GridSolve Quantum3 system, including UL 9540A unit-level testing, large-scale fire testing, and testing of Wärtsilä’s Active Ignition Mitigation System, or AIMS.
The large-scale fire test intentionally ignited a fire and allowed it to burn for more than 22 hours. Wärtsilä reported that the event remained contained within the initiating unit and did not propagate to adjacent units, without suppression or intervention. AIMS testing evaluated a different hazard: the accumulation of flammable gases during a thermal event. The system is designed to ignite those gases early, before they can produce an uncontrolled deflagration. According to the nomination, CSA Group witnessed the tests for third-party verification.
SyedNaveed also supported large-scale and full-system testing of Wärtsilä’s GridSolve Quantum2 platform. Testing included U.S.-based AIMS validation under worst-case gas-release scenarios, as well as large-scale fire testing that showed no unit-to-unit propagation. Wärtsilä said those results have also helped inform evolving industry guidance, including future editions of NFPA 855.
His work extends beyond Wärtsilä’s own products. SyedNaveed participates in CSA and UL technical committees related to energy storage and works with customers, authorities having jurisdiction, fire protection engineers, insurers, and first responders. Wärtsilä credits his ability to translate test data into design guidance and permitting support with reducing project risk and improving permitting outcomes.
Before joining Wärtsilä, SyedNaveed worked as a fire protection engineer at Dominion Energy, where he served as subject matter expert for more than 64 MWh of installed and 284 MWh of planned energy storage projects. He holds a master’s degree in Energy Systems Engineering from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.
