A home battery storage installation guideline proposed by Standards Australia has again been slammed by the industry as fundamentally flawed and – if passed – likely to throw the energy storage market into chaos, both in Australia and overseas.
In a newsletter to members on Tuesday, Australia’s Energy Storage Council said 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 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 comments come at the close of a nine-week consultation period, during which time a record 2917 submissions were posted by members of the public.
The ESC said on Thursday that while it thought the draft standards needed “a total re-work”, it was most concerned by “the most egregious issue of Fire Hazard classification.”
The draft, the ESC said, takes a “lowest common denominator approach” to battery technology, putting unreasonable restrictions on all systems, regardless of their chemistry and manufacture.
It also notes that the fire safety issues and the consequential framing of the Draft have not been supported by evidence of actual risks.
“The Draft assumes that ‘any Standard is better than none’,” the ESC said in its newsletter. “80 battery storage manufacturers met in Germany this week and the draft Australian standards were the number one issue on the agenda.
“If this Draft were adopted then the energy storage industry in Australia and globally would be thrown into chaos.”
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