The potentially industry crippling home battery installation safety guideline proposed by Standards Australia has again been slammed by the industry, as fundamentally flawed and – if passed – certain to throw the energy storage industry into chaos, both in Australia and overseas.
In a newsletter to members on Tuesday, Australia’s Energy Storage Council said that the current Draft Battery Standard ASNZ5139 – which effectively bans the installation of lithium-ion battery storage systems inside homes and garages on the basis that they are a fire risk – needed to be completely re-written.
“The draft Standard is not evidence-based and has enormous implications for the Australian and global battery storage industry,” the ESC said.
“The Energy Storage Council will oppose the adoption of the Draft Standard. The Energy Storage Council will vote against the Draft Standard and will urge other committee members to do the same.”
The call to arms comes at the close of a nine-week consultation period, during which time the draft standard was open for public submissions by Standards Australia, attracting more than 2,900 public submissions.
The submissions will now be “considered in detail”, and “resolved” by the technical committee, with any “substantive changes” released for further consultation. Once all comments are resolved, the SA technical committee will hold a vote to decide whether the document is published, or not.
As we first reported here, the draft standard, which requires battery systems to be located outside of homes and garages, in purpose-built “kiosks” or “bunkers,” was first aired in February this year, but was thought to have been hosed down after a major industry-side backlash.
It resurfaced in June, however, as part of the draft voluntary standard for On-Site Battery Systems, when it was released by Standards Australia for nine weeks of public consultation.
In a June 13 media release, SA said that the draft standard – which it noted had “not been without controversy” – currently included provisions to minimise the risk of self-sustaining fires.
Click Here to Read Full Article
Recent Comments