A draft of industry guidelines for the installation of battery storage in Australian homes and businesses has upheld a controversial recommendation that threatens to ban batteries from inside homes and garages.
The draft guidelines – which were first aired by Standards Australia in February this year, and then quickly hosed down after an industry-wide backlash – recommend that most current technology home energy storage units be located outside of homes, in independent “kiosks” or “bunkers.”
Clean Energy Council CEO Kane Thornton says the industry had hoped this recommendation would be scrapped after the a similar determination from Queensland regulators was revised out of that state’s guidelines following consultation with industry.
And he said that a previous disclaimer from Standards Australia, that state governments did not have to adopt the recommendations, was not good enough.
“There do need to be strong standards across the industries, and therefore as this progresses, whatever standard is reached will be applied to the industry. …therefore we’re very engaged and concerned,” Thornton told RenewEconomy on Wednesday.
“Things have moved on, there’s been a lot of progress in terms on international standards and what’s happening in Australia. We now hope common sense prevails,” he said, adding that if it didn’t, there could be some “pretty significant ramifications.”
Industry players will also be hoping for some common sense. They have previously warned that the requirement for batteries to be housed in independent structures outside of homes risked adding thousands of dollars to the cost of battery installation in Australia, just as the industry is taking off.
Compare solar & battery storage quotes for free
Compare Solar & Battery Quotes
© 2017 Solar Choice Pty Ltd
Over thirty thousand home storage batteries installed in Germany to date and not one reported fire attributed to them. AS is not doing its credibility any favours and one can only wonder just who is blowing in there ear and why.