Standard on ESS (Energy Storage System) proposed by South Korea passed the first stage to becoming an international standard. Along with other standards on ESS system demand management and emergency power system that were proposed before, South Korean Government is going to expand establishment of international standards on the safety of ESS system from many directions. It will be interesting to see whether South Korea can grab the upper hand of discussions regarding international standard on ESS system that have just started taking place.
According to relevant institutions, ESS system protection requirements depending on environmental factors (IEC 62933-4-3) proposed by South Korea received an approval for NP (New Work Item Proposal) from the International Electrotechnical Commission’s TC 120/WG 4.
NP is the first step for a standard to be established as an international standard. An approval for NP will grant opinions from participating members who have the obligation to vote during an IS (International Standard) establishment process. Afterwards, a standard will go through a CD (Committee Draft) process and a CDV (Committee Draft for Vote) process that is the final step before a standard is established as an IS.
South Korea’s IS that recently received an approval for NP specifies conditions such as temperature, humidity, and dust that can impact the safety of an ESS system and ways to test the safety of an ESS system. It includes standards for testing environmental factors that can impact the safety of an ESS system as a whole. Chief Researcher Kim Mi-sung of Korea Testing and Research Institute (KTR) was the representative to propose the standard to IEC.
“Because unexpected situations can occur when ESS is connected to PCS (Power Conversion System) or cable, safety of integrated system is important.” said Chief Researcher Kim. “Our standard includes standards on relevant tests.”
South Korea’s research team’s goal is to have its standard established as an IS within a year or two. Because Chief Researcher Kim is also the chairman of WG 4, South Korea will be able to lead discussions during a process of establishing the corresponding standard as an IS.
IEC TC 120 is a technical committee that is in charge of standardization of ESS system and it has just started establishing new IS after it was established in 2013. South Korea’s plan is to lead the standardization of ESS system by proposing IS from many directions.
Standard on ESS demand management and application of emergency power system use proposed by Senior Researcher Jung Sang-jin of Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) passed through a CD process by WG 3. Corresponding standard is based on South Korea’s guideline on application of ESS system’s emergency power system. Standard on safety requirements of ESS system based on lithium-ion battery proposed by Senior Researcher Kim Jin-yong of Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL) is expected to be discussed by WG 5. Whether the standard will receive an approval for NP will be decided during a discussion that will be held in Paris this March. Out of five WGs of IEC TC 120, three of them will discuss standards proposed by South Korea.
“As we have experienced many fire accidents involving ESS, we have actually gained experiences regarding the safety of ESS system.” said a representative for a testing and certification agency. “If we can lead discussions regarding IS on ESS early on, we will be able to gain leverage during a process of establishing IS on ESS system.”
Staff Reporter Byun, Sanggeun | sgbyun@etnews.com