What standards apply to lithium batteries in Australia?
The standards that matter for an industrial lithium battery in Australia:
|
Standard |
Scope |
|---|---|
|
IEC 62619:2022 |
Safety requirements for secondary lithium cells and batteries for industrial applications. Current edition includes a mandatory thermal propagation test, overcharge testing at 1.5× rated voltage for 7 hours, and external short circuit with surface temperature limited to 150 °C |
|
UN 38.3 |
Transport testing, eight tests including altitude, thermal cycling, vibration, shock, external short circuit, impact/crush, overcharge and forced discharge. Mandatory for any lithium product transported in Australia |
|
UL 1973 |
Stationary battery safety |
|
UL 9540A |
Thermal runaway fire propagation test method. Frequently demanded in data centre and BESS tenders |
|
IEC 63056 |
Safety requirements for lithium in energy storage systems used with power conversion equipment |
|
AS/NZS 5139:2019 + A1:2025 |
Battery systems with power conversion equipment, note the telecom and UPS exclusions |
|
AS 3011 / AS 2676 |
Installation, maintenance and testing of secondary batteries in buildings |
|
SA TS 5398:2025 |
Electrical Energy Storage Equipment: Safety Requirements. Now the basis for Clean Energy Council listing |
SOLiCORE is certified to IEC 62619, UN 38.3 and UL 1973, and tested to UL 9540A.
A change worth knowing about if your project depends on CEC listing. SA TS 5398:2025 replaced the 2018 Best Practice Guide as the basis for Clean Energy Council battery listing. The transition: applications accepted under either from 1 January 2026, only SA TS 5398 from 1 January 2027, and all Best-Practice-Guide-approved batteries expire from the CEC lists on 31 December 2027. Approvals under the new standard carry three-year validity.
This matters because CEC listing is a commercial gate, not just a technical one, state network connection requirements and government rebate programmes including SRES require batteries from the CEC list. If your project timeline crosses 2027, ask suppliers what their listing status will be after 31 December 2027, not just what it is today.