As the rate of uptake for energy storage systems increases exponentially, the development of official standards for the technology is playing a serious game of catch up. Jacob Harris reports.

Energy storage technology is evolving in leaps and bounds, causing many in the industry to believe we’re on the cusp of a large scale revolution. With Tesla’s Powerwall reportedly sold out until mid-2016 and innovations in battery chemistry and technology proliferating like never before, Australia’s standards for energy storage – that relate only to lead-acid batteries and have now seen 20 years without review – are in dire need of a rewrite.

To meet this challenge, a Standards Australia technical sub-committee for solar storage standards has been formed and is currently in the process of developing updated standards that apply to the range of battery technologies and chemistries now available. Ted Spooner, a senior visiting fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) is on the committee and says that while an official standard is currently being developed, it may still be two years away.

“While we see it as an urgent need (storage systems are starting to be installed in large numbers) it’s difficult to predict the development time for this kind of standard. The problem is you’re dealing with people who donate their time. Everything is done on a voluntary basis and although people put in a lot of time and effort I think it’ll still be 18 months to two years before a standard comes out,” says Ted.

Considering the safety issues surrounding the installation of storage systems and the expected level of uptake of the technology in the near future, this is a considerable length of time. So to suffice in the interim, the committee released a set of industry guidelines last year through the Clean Energy Council with the hope that people will adopt them as a method of best practice.

“It’s really a first draft but it covers a lot of the issues such as battery ventilation, housing, necessary clearances, insulation and also issues regarding terminals so that when an installer opens up the box they’re not exposed to dangerous voltages,” says Ted.

In addition to the Clean Energy Council’s industry guidelines, the Energy Storage Council (ESC) has developed a Best Practice Guide. With help from experts from across the industry, the guide – which functions as a voluntary industry code – should also garner significant industry support.

“The technology has developed significantly and other battery chemistries have emerged very rapidly,” says ESC chief executive John Grimes.

“Probably the most pressing issues relate to batteries that include lithium ions as part of their make-up. If a Li-Ion a battery gets damaged it can result in a rapid discharge of energy (generally expressed as fire) and can also release poisonous gasses. So it’s critical from an industry perspective, particularly at this embryonic stage of development, that batteries are imported and installed in an appropriate, risk controlled way.”

Like John, Ted points to Li-Ion batteries’ incendiary potential as a major issue but he also outlines issues that can arise through differences in assembly.

If a manufacturer puts the package together in Australia they’re asked to comply with the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS). Systems that are integrated by the manufacturer come as a package complete with the inverter and other components – so the installer just has to connect up the inverter, which they should be able to do relatively safely.

“Issues can arise when a contractor installs a battery and then separately fits the solar system and inverter and so on. There are serious safety issues relating to how a battery is put together,” says Ted.

How a battery is connected to an inverter and how that inverter is then connected to the grid is an area that needs careful attention. Whether the inverter provides isolation of the battery from the grid needs to be determined, as non-isolated, transformer-less inverters don’t provide electrical separation.

The standards will also identify potential issues relating to the housing of the system. Ensuring it is properly weatherproofed and sufficiently robust to withstand accidental knocks or damage – that it is physically secure so there’s no way any live component could be accessed by an untrained person.

There are also more pedestrian considerations to be made such as those relating to a storage system’s location.

“If a system is situated in a driveway for example, the possibility of someone backing a car and bumping into it needs to be assessed,” says John.

“Standards also need to address factors like signage to ensure all signs are metallic, pressed and durable. They need to be highly visible so that in an emergency any personnel who have to respond are quickly and easily notified that there is a battery on the premises.

“All these things are really important – everybody involved in putting the standards together is aware of the dangers of getting it wrong and that’s why, from the outset, everyone’s so fixated on making sure that we have good, appropriate measures in place right from the get go.”