
On 19 October 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule directing the North American Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop new or modified reliability standards to tackle the issue of grid reliability gaps relating to inverter-based resources (IBRs). 1 The reliability standards will impact wind and solar renewables, as well as battery storage. [pdf]
This Standard specifies the electrical installation requirements for inverter energy systems and grid protection devices with ratings up to 10 kVA for single-phase units, or up to 30 kVA for three-phase units, for the injection of electric power through an electrical installation to the electricity distribution network.
As required by Order No. 901, NERC will file reliability standards in three phases through late 2026. Energy storage resources are undoubtedly versatile assets that can play a number of different roles on the grid, including to support transmission reliability.
As cited in the DOE OE ES Program Plan, “Industry requires specifications of standards for characterizing the performance of energy storage under grid conditions and for modeling behavior. Discussions with industry professionals indicate a significant need for standards ” [1, p. 30].
Table 3.1. Energy Storage System and Component Standards 2. If relevant testing standards are not identified, it is possible they are under development by an SDO or by a third-party testing entity that plans to use them to conduct tests until a formal standard has been developed and approved by an SDO.
FERC also gave NERC flexibility to “propose to develop new or modified Reliability Standards that address [FERC’s] concerns in an equally efficient and effective manner,” but in that case, NERC must “explain how the new or modified Reliability Standards address the Commission’s concerns” discussed in Order No. 901. 11
Discussions with industry professionals indicate a significant need for standards ” [1, p. 30]. Under this strategic driver, a portion of DOE-funded energy storage research and development (R&D) is directed to actively work with industry to fill energy storage Codes & Standards (C&S) gaps.

Filling gaps in energy storage C&S presents several challenges, including (1) the variety of technologies that are used for creating ESSs, and (2) the rapid pace of advances in storage technology and applications, e.g., battery technologies are making significant breakthroughs relative to more established. . The challenge in any code or standards development is to balance the goal of ensuring a safe, reliable installation without hobbling technical. . The pace of change in storage technology outpaces the following example of the technical standards development processes. All published IEEE standards have a ten-year. [pdf]
As cited in the DOE OE ES Program Plan, “Industry requires specifications of standards for characterizing the performance of energy storage under grid conditions and for modeling behavior. Discussions with industry pro-fessionals indicate a significant need for standards” [1, p. 30].
For the past decade, industry, utilities, regulators, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have viewed energy storage as an important element of future power grids, and that as technology matures and costs decline, adoption will increase.
Discussions with industry professionals indicate a significant need for standards ” [1, p. 30]. Under this strategic driver, a portion of DOE-funded energy storage research and development (R&D) is directed to actively work with industry to fill energy storage Codes & Standards (C&S) gaps.
Although the development of energy storage technologies has made ESSs technically feasible to be integrated in larger scale with required performance, the policies, grid codes and economic issues are still presenting barriers for wider application and investment.
Grid-scale storage refers to technologies connected to the power grid that can store energy and then supply it back to the grid at a more advantageous time – for example, at night, when no solar power is available, or during a weather event that disrupts electricity generation.
Grid-scale storage, particularly batteries, will be essential to manage the impact on the power grid and handle the hourly and seasonal variations in renewable electricity output while keeping grids stable and reliable in the face of growing demand. Grid-scale battery storage needs to grow significantly to get on track with the Net Zero Scenario.

UL 9540 provides a basis for safety of energy storage systems that includes reference to critical technology safety standards and codes, such as UL 1973, the Standard for Batteries for Use in Stationary, Vehicle Auxiliary Power and Light Electric Rail (LER) Applications; UL 1741, the Standard for Inverters, Converters, Controllers and Interconnection System Equipment for Use With Distributed Energy Resources; IEEE 1547 and 1547.1; CSA FC1; NFPA 70; NFPA 2; ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code; and ASME B31 piping codes. [pdf]
Discussions with industry professionals indicate a significant need for standards ” [1, p. 30]. Under this strategic driver, a portion of DOE-funded energy storage research and development (R&D) is directed to actively work with industry to fill energy storage Codes & Standards (C&S) gaps.
The storage of industrial quantities of thermal energy, specifically in molten salt, is in a nascent stage. The ASME committee has published the first edition of TES-1, Safety Standards for Thermal Energy Storage Systems: Molten Salt. The storage primarily consists of sensible heat storage in nitrate salt eutectics and mixtures.
The Standard covers a comprehensive review of energy storage systems, covering charging and discharging, protection, control, communication between devices, fluids movement and other aspects.
Table 3.1. Energy Storage System and Component Standards 2. If relevant testing standards are not identified, it is possible they are under development by an SDO or by a third-party testing entity that plans to use them to conduct tests until a formal standard has been developed and approved by an SDO.
As cited in the DOE OE ES Program Plan, “Industry requires specifications of standards for characterizing the performance of energy storage under grid conditions and for modeling behavior. Discussions with industry pro-fessionals indicate a significant need for standards” [1, p. 30].
It is recognized that electric energy storage equipment or systems can be a single device providing all required functions or an assembly of components, each having limited functions. Components having limited functions shall be tested for those functions in accordance with this standard.
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