Abstract: Due to the advantages of high energy density, long service life, wide operating temperature range and low self-discharge, lithium-ion battery has become the mainstream technology of electrochemical energy storage power stations in China. However, under harsh conditions such as high temperature and overcharge, lithium-ion batteries are prone to thermal runaway fire and even explosion, so the safety issues have gradually become the primary restriction for large-scale application of lithium-ion battery energy storage power stations. We systematically analyzed the causes of thermal runaway of lithium-ion energy storage batteries, the internal reaction process of batteries as well as the evolution of external characteristic parameters, and emphasized the state-of-the-arts of battery thermal runaway state detection technology, intelligent diagnosis algorithm and energy storage power station safety control technology. At last, the thermal runaway state detection and safety control technology for energy storage power stations were summarized, and the prospects in future research was put forward.