Australian standards and compliance

The standards that matter for an industrial lithium battery in Australia:

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.

Scope is 12–1500 V DC, 1–200 kWh. It excludes telecommunications applications, UPS complying with AS 62040, premises with critical power continuity requirements, EVs, portable equipment and transportable structures. The most misapplied standard in the market. /does-as-nzs-5139-apply-to-my-battery-installation/

[AS 2676 requirements · battery maintenance standard Australia] AS 2676 covers installation, maintenance, testing and replacement of secondary batteries in buildings, in two parts (vented and sealed cells). It is the standard Australian asset owners are audited against, and it is the correct reference for a maintenance regime where AS/NZS 5139 does not apply. /as-2676-battery-installation-and-maintenance-explained/

VRLA vents hydrogen under over-charge and high temperature; hydrogen is flammable above roughly 4% in air. Requirements sit in AS 2676 and AS 3011. A sealed IP-rated cabinet containing a battery bank with no designed air path is a design error.

[CEC approved battery list · SA TS 5398 · Clean Energy Council battery list change] The Clean Energy Council maintains approved lists for battery modules, pre-assembled battery systems and integrated BESS. Listing is a commercial gate, not just a technical one, state network connection requirements and rebate programmes including SRES require listed batteries. The basis is changing. SA TS 5398:2025 replaced the 2018 Best Practice Guide: applications accepted under either from 1 January 2026, only TS 5398 from 1 January 2027, and all Best-Practice-Guide-approved batteries expire from the lists on 31 December 2027. TS 5398 also brings lead-acid technologies into scope, which is new. If your project crosses 2027, ask suppliers about their listing status after 31 December 2027.

[rail supplier approval Australia · TMR approved product · type approval process battery] Each infrastructure manager runs its own gate on top of the national standards. In rail, ARTC maintains approved materials registers and requires prototype approval and factory acceptance testing for new or modified designs, with a stated procurement preference for existing suppliers and for products already proven in similar signalling applications elsewhere. Transport for NSW operates the ASA type approval process. Road authorities operate equivalent regimes, TMR through its MRTS specifications, Main Roads WA through Specification 713, and TfNSW and DTP Victoria through their own ITS specifications. Practical implication for a contractor: confirm the product is on the relevant register before you tender it, because a compliant product that is not type-approved is not acceptable. /rail-signalling-power-systems-explained/

[battery standards Australia · Australian battery installation standard]

[superseded battery standard Australia · AS/NZS 4029.2 superseded] Three supersessions worth knowing, because older specifications still cite the withdrawn versions: AS 60896.22:2023 supersedes AS/NZS 4029.2:2000 (published 8 September 2023). AS 4044:2024 supersedes AS 4044-1992, a 32-year gap, and many live utility and road authority specifications still reference the 1992 edition. AS/NZS 5139 Amendment 1 (2025) added a formal battery room definition, new clearance figures including 600 mm front and 900 mm above in restricted locations, and an appendix for cell short-circuit current calculation. If a tender cites a withdrawn edition, say so in your response, specifiers generally appreciate it.