On 15 August 2017 Standards Australia concluded public consultation on the draft battery storage standard that has been in development for some time.

Over three thousand comments were received on the draft, with many relating to how systems should be installed in a residential context.

Given the significant response to the draft standard, along with the fact that this is a new building technology with limited existing direction from governments, Standards Australia has offered to bring key stakeholders together to start a discussion and establish a framework through which these public policy tensions can be addressed.

Mandated residential construction requirements are ultimately public policy matters for governments. Australian Standards® are voluntary unless called up by governments, and are only published if consensus is reached between industry, government and community interests.

As an independent technical standards development organisation, Standards Australia is keen to see industry and government work together to find a way forward on how residential construction requirements for onsite batteries should be set.

In Standards Australia’s view, our technical committee is not the appropriate forum to resolve the public policy tensions related to public safety, clean energy and minimum residential construction requirements. If there are policy issues for the respective governments to address, this should be determined before any further standards development work is progressed.

Standards Australia will continue to work with its technical committee and all stakeholders on this issue and hopes that a parallel policy dialogue will give our technical committee the guidance it needs to get on with the technical work.

In the meantime, consideration is being given to how best to work with our technical committee on the other important requirements contained in the draft standard.

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