NFPA 855 and Fire Code Requirements for Energy Storage Systems

Justine Sanchez and the team at Mayfield Renewables just launched a new course – NFPA 855 and Fire Code Requirements for Energy Storage Systems. It’s the second in a two-course series on Electrical & Fire Codes for Energy Storage Systems.

About the Course

This is a two hour course focused on fire codes for energy storage systems. Essentially we explain why these fire codes and standards are super important for solar plus storage projects and the industry at large.

We drill down into different years – 2015, 2018, 2021 – because different jurisdictions are on different code cycles. With folks working all over the country they need to have understanding of what’s in each one of those cycles and each one of those codes and how they relate to either their commercial energy storage project, or their residential energy storage project.

Then we really dive into the NFPA 855 standard, which is basically the document that covers the rules for the installation of stationary energy storage. And the reason we dive deep into that document is that is what the 2021 versions of the fire code is based on.

And a lot of jurisdictions are going to be moving in that direction. Notably, California and New York, with others coming up in the coming years. And so that’s really kind of a look into the very near future for some areas. And just the future in general, for other areas.

Why Was This Course Created?

Mayfield Renewables wanted to create this course to deal with the issue that ESS – energy storage systems – are new for many solar professionals. And so there’s also a lot of new and updated fire codes that have been released in response really to some lithium ion battery fires and a large-scale explosion that happened down in Arizona a couple of years ago that actually hospitalized several firefighters.

And so these codes are largely evolving. There are new codes and this is a new industry for a lot of folks, and there’s also new energy storage products out there. So with so much newness we’ve realized there’s a lot of confusion in the industry around the gear what’s actually required for our energy storage installations when it comes to code.

And we also wanted to really kind of highlight why these codes are important for our industry given these recent events.

This Class is a Reference Tool that Will Save You Time

One of the things we did with this class is we tried to make it useful for the future for our students. So they can go back to the PDFs that we provide in these classes.

And they can go to the diagrams where we, we literally overlay the code sections for different types of energy storage system, where they need to go into the code. To look for those particular requirements. And then for the fire codes class, we’ve made loads of tables and infographics basically to help step somebody through which fire codes they need to go to what’s in those fire codes and how that they can apply those to their installation.

The Second in a Series of Courses from Mayfield Renewables

This class is the second class that we’ve released. The first class – NEC 2017 & 2020 Solar + Storage Requirements – was really focused on the national electrical code. The 2017 and 2020 requirements for energy storage systems which are different from the fire code requirements, which are covered in this new course. So our first course that we released really dove into each of those individual articles that cover energy storage systems, not just solar, like 690 and 705, but that class also dives into 706, 710, and even 480 a bit.

So ultimately our goal here with this course series is to give folks in the industry an opportunity to really understand what’s required by the electrical codes and the fire codes.

Because it’s not just about electrical code, but you have to know how to space these energy storage systems in a room. What about egress; about getting out of that room for a commercial system and, and what’s required there? So this comprehensive course series really gives folks a, a deep dive into the codes and standards for energy storage systems with a specific focus on electrical and fire codes.

Standards & Test Methods

Our section on UL 9540 listing, and the UL 9548 test method was really built out understanding that there’s a lot of confusion actually about these standards and test methods.

And so we really tried to differentiate what the listing is, versus what the test method is. And there’s a version one versus version two, and how that plays into the equipment that’s being released right now. And how you might have to think about those pieces of pieces of equipment within your installation.

NFPA 855 and Fire Code Requirements for Energy Storage Systems is available when you’re ready to begin learning.