AS/NZS 5139 draft standard “Electrical installations - Safety of battery systems” is currently out for public comment
Kristin Gillies, August 02, 2017
AS/NZS 5139 draft standard “Electrical installations - Safety of battery systems” is currently out for public comment
Check out our previous tech bulletin for background to the Standard.
This draft is generating a lot of discussion within the industry, particularly in relation to the proposal that all Lithium Battery based storage systems would have to be installed externally to a residential dwelling and be surrounded by a fire barrier.
A number of comments have been submitted to the standards committee already on this particular issue. There is also a lot of discussion happening in a number of forums, trying to get general agreement from all parties to reduce this requirement for safety certified systems. The main proponents of these requirements are some Australian Energy Safety regulators. They are concerned that these storage systems will be another “Samsung Phone” fire hazard or another batch of hoverboard fires. There is a lot of disagreement within the standards committee.
SEANZ does not support the draft installation requirements for Lithium battery systems. SEANZ does not expect the standard to be adopted as it is currently drafted, however this cannot be taken for granted and we need you must make a considered comment on the draft.
As all the attention (and majority of the comments) is focused on the Lithium Battery issue, we are concerned that aspects that relate to lead acid battery installations will not get the attention needed. So please if you have experience with battery system installations – both on-grid and off-grid, then please read and comment. This standard does apply to off grid as well. Are there any conflicts or issues with AS/NZS 4509? Are any of the other requirement onerous?
SEANZ encourages, asks and needs you as a responsible member, to make comment on the standards that you believe our industry in NZ will benefit from. Now is your chance to have input.
Access a copy of the standards here on the SEANZ members site – you will need your SEANZ login
Your comments can be made direct via the Standards Australia site. Register and add your comments here.
All comments made to Standards Australia will be considered by the committee, but they must be constructive, and be supported by sound technical evidence and or valid reasons. 100 people saying the same thing doesn’t work - which is why SEANZ will not give you a template with “please send these comments”.
