China Adds New Safety Requirements for BESS Installations

New harmonized standards target large battery energy storage systems

In September of last year, two new standards for battery energy storage system (BESS) testing and safety were published for comment in China. The Standardization Administration of China (SAC) published a draft national standard "Safety requirements for secondary lithium cells and batteries for use in electrical energy storage systems," and the China National Development and Reform Commission published a draft set of "Interim Measures for the Safety Management of Electrochemical Energy Storage Stations."

"Safety requirements for secondary lithium cells and batteries for use in electrical energy storage systems" is a China harmonized GB standard to IEC 63056: 2020. Once approved, it will be issued as a mandatory national standard. This document specifies requirements and tests for the product safety of secondary lithium cells and batteries used in electrical energy storage systems with a maximum DC voltage of 1500 V (nominal).

Systems within the scope of the document include home (residential) energy storage systems (HESS) and large energy storage systems for both on- and off-grid applications.

Some of the tests in the standard include external short-circuit testing, impact testing, drop testing, thermal abuse testing, overcharge testing, and forced discharge testing.

The "Interim Measures for the Safety Management of Electrochemical Energy Storage Stations" provides a set of guidelines for different aspects of electrochemical energy storage station safety management systems, such as project entry, manufacturing and quality control, installation, deployment, operation and maintenance, emergency response, etc. The guidelines are applicable to electrochemical energy storage stations with power ratings greater than 500kW and capacity ratings greater than 500kWh.

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