DOE partners with ICC, others on compliance guide for energy storage systems

by Brianna Crandall — November 23, 2016 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released the 2016 compliance guide for energy storage systems free of charge, making it easy for manufacturers, installers and operators of energy storage systems to understand and comply with current codes, standards, and regulations before and during their implementation.

In July of last year, DOE formed a task force of subject matter experts coordinated by a team from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory that included the International Code Council (ICC) and other stakeholders to address potential compliance issues of these systems. Several International Codes developed by ICC and enforced in jurisdictions across country are referenced in the Compliance Guide, including the International Building, Fire, Mechanical and Residential Codes.

As distributed energy production grows and management of utility loads increases in importance, new technologies for batteries and energy storage are coming into focus, and part of the DOE’s response has been the Energy Storage Safety initiative. One of three key components of that initiative involves how codes, standards and regulations impact the timely deployment of safe energy storage systems.

The Energy Storage System Guide for Compliance with Safety Codes and Standards is available for free download from the Sandia Labs Web site.