Does home insurance cover putting a Tesla lithium fire bomb on the wall of your house ?




Lithium-ion battery storage may be banned inside Australian homes
By Giles Parkinson on 13 February 2017



Lithium-ion battery storage devices – including Tesla Powerwalls and other products – may be effectively banned from being installed inside homes and garages in Australia under new guidelines being drafted by Standards Australia.tesla powerwall 2

The move, if upheld, is likely to send shockwaves through the industry, with thousands of Australian households, including prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, already installing lithium ion battery storage devices and millions more predicted to do so in coming years.

Standards Australia, a voluntary body that draws on expertise from the industries involved and key stakeholders, is expected to release the draft guidelines in the next week or so. But news of its proposals has already leaked, causing concern that the decision could bring the industry to a halt.

It is feared that the ruling, if upheld, could cause damage to the lithium-ion storage market – expected to be worth billions of dollars and expected to play a critical role in the evolution of Australia’s energy market.

Most of the 1.6 million Australian households with rooftop solar already installed say they intend to install battery storage.


It is believed Standard Australia will advise lithium-ion battery storage should only be installed in free-standing “kiosks” – or effectively a “bunker” as one source described it – which would likely add thousands of dollars to the cost of installation.

This will affect not just individual installations, including those looking to go off grid, but also “mass” deployment such as AGL Energy’s “virtual power plant” in South Australia, which it plans to replicate “across the grid”, as well as numerous trials being conducted by networks across Australia, and various “power sharing” proposals across the country.

It also raises questions about whether people with electric vehicles, powered by lithium-ion storage, would also be banned from households garages.

Extraordinarily, there are currently no standards for lithium-ion battery storage in Australia, as we reported back in March last year, but deliberations began in June, as we reported here. However, both the Clean Energy Council, and the Energy Storage Council have issued their own guidelines, which do not include a ban.

The proposal is being seen as going from one extreme to another, and well beyond where are other jurisdictions such as Germany or California, the other big household battery storage markets, have gone.

Australia is considered to be the world’s test market for battery storage, thanks to its extraordinarily high grid costs, mostly due to the pricing of the network, and its high penetration of rooftop solar.

Forecasts for battery storage uptake include 2 million within a few years (Morgan Stanley), up to 6 million by 2030 (Bloomberg New Energy Finance) and CSIRO/ENA predicted that battery storage capacity would outstrip rooftop solar by 2025. Industry analyst Sunwiz says 70 per cent of solar households are looking to install battery storage of some sort.

Two of the biggest players in the market – Tesla and LG Chem – both use lithium-ion, as do numerous other products such as Sonnenbatterie, Sony, GCL, BYD, Panasonic and Samsung. Enphase batteries use lithium iron phosphate.

Other products, such as Australia’s Redflow zinc bromine flow batteries, Australia’s Ecoult (advanced lead battery) and the US-based Aquion (water) do not use lithium-ion.

Standards Australia is believed to have taken a conservative view of lithium-ion based on recommendations from fire authorities, who took the path of least risk. This follows the ban of some lithium-ion phone devices on aircraft, such as Samsung.


But others say that lithium-ion battery storage devices have long been installed in homes, particularly Germany. This proposal goes further than those put out by International Electrotechnical Commission  and UL – formerly known as Underwriters Lab.

John Grimes, the head of the Australian Solar Council, said he would not comment on the reports of the Standards Australia draft.

But he noted that there are standards in the US and Japan that do not ban battery storage devices in homes. In Germany, where more than 30,000 devices were installed last year, lithium-ion battery storage was banned only in bedrooms.

“There needs to be clear evidence tabled that these installations represent an unacceptable risk,” he told RenewEconomy. “It has to be evidence based.”

The committee is understood to have included representatives from the solar and storage industries (both lithium-ion and other technologies), networks, consumer groups,  fire authorities and independent consultants.

Update: Standards Australia issued a statement on Tuesday denying it was seeking a ban, but was looking to develop a new draft Australian Standard AS/NZS 5139, Electrical Installations – Safety of battery systems for use in inverter energy systems that will enable the safe installation of battery energy storage systems.

Read a bit more here

https://reneweconomy.com.au/lithium-ion-battery-storage-may-be-banned-inside-aus...

Gosh the Greeny type DDH is trying to sound intelligent. Didn't work.

Have you considered the size and weight of these batteries ?

Why doesn't the DDH Greeny type just disappear ?

DonDeeHippy wrote on May 28^th, 2018 at 8:49am:



And because it hasn't happened yet is proof positive it will never happen?

Hey socko are you going to ban lithium powered smart phones, electric drills and laptops from the house too or is it just limited to the batteries used to store FREE energy from the sun ? LOL

The Greeny type DDH is certainly the empty vessel that makes the most ridiculous uninformed nonsense off topic noise. Please just disappear.

Back on topic would your home insurance policy cover your home if your Tesla fire bomb blew up on the wall of your house and burnt your house down ?



Will the Tesla Power Wall Explode?
May 9, 2015 endlesswattz 



Tesla has released a new home battery.  It is called the Power Wall.

The Tesla power wall is a lithium ion battery, according to the specifications listed on the official website. 



 

There have been many documented cases of laptop batteries catching on fire and cell phone batteries inflating and combusting. 

They say that this is a smart battery, but what are the safety features? 

There’s very little information available right now at so what kind of safety features this battery will have. 

The specifications say that it uses a liquid thermal control, but we don’t know what that means or how it works yet.

What would happen if a vehicle crashes into the power wall? What if the house catches on fire?  What would happen to the battery? 

So far there’s only been one or two incidents of Tesla cars catching on fire.  We will see how reliable the power wall really is.

http://endlesswatts.com/will-the-tesla-power-wall-explode/

Dumber than dumb Greeny type DDH shows her lack of originality by copying MY intelligent post and then adding 1 line of ridiculous dribble as only a dumb Greeny could do.

Now an extremely welcome relief from the pungent puerility of the Greeny types.


Will it be illegal to install a single phase Powerwall 2 from Thursday?
March 26, 2017 by Finn Peacock 90 Comments



Unless your local electricity network provides a local variation to a new Australian Standard that becomes mandatory on Thursday, it may be illegal to install a Powerwall 2 plus solar on a single phase.

[Note: Someone has contacted me to say that their interpretation of the standard is that a 5kW battery inverter and a 5kW solar inverter equates to a ‘rating limit’ of 5kW for the entire (IES) system. If that is correct then you would be able to AC couple a Powerwall 2 (or other battery) with a 5kW solar inverter on a single phase and not violate the new standard. I don’t agree with that interpretation. My interpretation is that the ‘rating limit’ is the sum of all the inverter ratings in the IES. I’m happy to be proved wrong on this.]

[Note 2: Someone else has suggested that a battery inverter that monitors the solar inverter’s output could be controlled in a way such that the total output of both inverters never exceeds 5kW. Technically this is feasible, although it would limit the ability of the whole system to provide self consumption. In practice I still think the ‘rating limit’ would be calculated as the sum of both inverter ratings, unless the manufacturer of the battery inverter could convince the DNSP otherwise.]

When is the s#!* gonna hit the fan?
This Thursday (30th March 2017) a new Australian Standard becomes mandatory. That standard is AS/NZS 4777.1:2016 or ‘Grid connection of energy systems via inverters, Part 1: Installation requirements‘ to its friends.

What is AS 4777.1?
It is the Australian Standard that mandates how solar and battery (and wind) inverters are connected to the grid. It was released on 30th September 2016 with a 6 month grace period. That grace period ends on 30 March 2017. So all solar and battery systems that are installed from this Thursday must comply.

Why Is This A Problem?
The second paragraph of Section 2.3 of AS/NZS 477.1:2016 states:

Unless specifically stated by the electricity distributor, the rating limit for a single-phase IES in an individual installation shall be equal to 5 kVA,

‘IES’ is defined in the standard as:
Inverter Energy System (IES) :  A system comprising one or more inverters together with one or more energy sources (which may include batteries for energy storage) and controls where the inverter(s) satisfies the requirements of AS/NZS 4777.2

‘Inverter’ is defined as
Inverter: A device that uses semiconductor devices to transfer power between a d.c. source(s) or load and an a.c. source(s) or load.

My interpretation of that clause is this:
Unless your local DNSP (Distribution Network Service Provider) publishes a local exception, the total amount of inverter capacity on a single phase system (when you add all the battery and solar inverter capacities together) cannot exceed 5kW1

For reference, this table shows you your local DNSP.

Why is this a problem?
Imagine you have a single phase home (as most Australians do) and you have a 5kW solar system on the roof. Now imagine that Elon Musk has charmed you into ordering one of his Powerwall 2 batteries.

Tesla has promised installations will begin in April, after the new standard comes into force.

But since Tesla decided to suddenly drop the DC version of the PW2 in Australia, you are forced to get the AC coupled version.

The AC coupled version has an inbuilt 5kW inverter, that converts the battery’s DC power to AC, so that it can be AC coupled.

So if you install this battery on your house you would have a 5kW battery inverter plus a 5kW solar inverter on a single phase and that appears to violate AS 4777.1 because the ‘rating limit’ of your IES is now 10kW.

As far as I can see, the only way you will be able to install a PW2 (or any other AC battery) together with 5kW of solar, legally on a single phase will be if your local DNSP creates a local exception.

Which DNSPs have announced local exceptions ?
I can’t find any formal announcement that any DNSP in Australia has a local exception that will allow battery inverters to be treated differently to solar inverters.

I’ve anecdotally heard that Energy Queensland will allow 5kW of Solar plus 5kW of battery inverter on a single phase – but I’ve seen nothing in writing.

I’ve anecdotally heard that different people at SA Power Networks have said they both will and will not allow 5kW of battery inverter2. So God only knows what SAPN’s position is.

Update: 3 commenters have kindly advised that Ausgrid, Essential Energy and ActewAGL are all approving up to 10kW per phase – it would be nice to see this in writing from these DNSPs

Read the depressing rest here

https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/powerwall-2-as4777/