UPDATE: SimpliPhi Power Passes UL 9540A Fire Safety Testing at Cell, Battery and Unit Level – Demonstrating High Degree of Safety
These test results affirm the inherent safety and performance advantages of using SimpliPhi Powers award-winning energy storage systems designed and built with the lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry in Oxnard, California.
Oxnard, California, Dec. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- [OXNARD, CA] - Following completion of the industry’s most stringent 9540A fire-safety testing protocols by the UL Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) - at the Cell, Battery and larger integrated Unit level - a broad range of SimpliPhi Power’s energy storage products and system configurations have surpassed safety requirements identified by the Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) that represent various national building and fire codes in the United States. These test results affirm the inherent safety and performance advantages of using SimpliPhi Power’s award-winning energy storage systems designed and built with the lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry in Oxnard, California. The PHI batteries and the AccESS, BOSS.6 & BOSS.12 integrated systems can be used individually or in combination to achieve multiple, robust solutions across residential and commercial applications, both on & off grid, AC or DC coupled.
“As we continue to uphold SimpliPhi Power’s core values of protecting our planet and empowering people, it is critical that the energy storage solutions we provide to foster economic recovery and a sustainable future are 100% safe,” said Catherine Von Burg, CEO and President of SimpliPhi Power. “Although we attained UL 9540A PHI battery module fire-safety testing as of June 2021, we weren’t satisfied with only module level testing. We wanted to demonstrate that our larger, integrated solutions are both safe and reliable, which is important for customers, installers and project developers given that these test results are being used by fire departments and AHJs from a code, compliance, and permitting perspective.”
“Thermal Runaway,” an uncontrollable rise in temperature at the cell level, is the most common failure mode of lithium-ion batteries, which can lead to fires and even explosive safety incidents. The immense amount of gas and heat released during thermal runaway of a lithium-ion cell can propagate to other cells throughout a battery, as well as to neighboring batteries in a large integrated system, causing failure of the entire energy storage system, sometimes leading to injury or even death. In August 2021, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that approximately 10,000 lithium-ion residential storage systems had been recalled because of fire hazards. Battery recalls, fires and explosions, from lead acid to lithium-ion installations, have caused serious public concern and skepticism as to the safety of energy storage solutions in the market. SimpliPhi Power’s performance during the UL 9540A testing, in which the Cell, Battery and Unit level equipment were forced into Thermal Runaway by heaters built into the batteries, demonstrated limited cell to cell propagation, decreasing temperatures, no ignition or fire and no explosive or deflagration events.
The 2020s has been deemed “the energy storage decade,” and the world will surpass a terawatt-hour of energy storage installations by the time the decade is over, according to predictions made by analysts at BloombergNEF. In addition, analysts claim that about a quarter of this growth will be deployed at residential and commercial & industrial (C&I) scale. A lot of this growth will be driven at the city and state level with more and more government bodies at all levels setting firm targets and mandates specific to distributed renewable generation and energy storage. Safety at the battery and system level is crucial to these deployments.
Since safety in energy storage systems is a key aspect of resiliency and economic security, it is imperative that the equipment used to achieve these goals is state-of-the-art. SimpliPhi products, manufactured in California, have over a decade of demonstrated safety and performance due to their proprietary manufacturing processes, materials and inherently safe chemistry. SimpliPhi’s product line is based on the superior Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LFP) chemistry, which is more cost-effective, safer, and reliable than other lithium-ion chemistries and manufacturers in the market, further demonstrated by the three levels of UL 9540A fire safety testing (Cell, Battery & Unit level).
Von Burg reinforces, "Safety and transparency by battery manufacturers are critical to the growth of the energy storage market. SimpliPhi will continue to demonstrate our commitment to advancing the energy storage market by publicly releasing our UL 9540A test results to set a standard of transparency concerning issues around performance and public safety. These test results are critical for deployments such as the energy storage project recently installed at the Brooklyn Public Library in Coney Island, NY, which would not have been possible without our large-scale UL 9540A unit level testing results.”
SimpliPhi’s entire line of UL 9540 Certified and UL 9540A fire safety tested integrated energy storage and management systems are available through the company's dedicated Distributor network, as well as the Briggs & Stratton Dealer network.
About SimpliPhi Power
With a mission to create universal access to safe, reliable, and affordable energy, SimpliPhi Power designs and manufactures efficient, non-toxic, and enduring energy storage and management systems that utilize environmentally benign lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry. Based in Oxnard, California, SimpliPhi combines the non-hazardous LFP energy storage chemistry with its proprietary cell and battery architecture, power electronics, Battery Management System (BMS) and manufacturing processes and materials to create safe, reliable, durable, and highly scalable on-demand power solutions for residential, commercial, industrial, and government sectors.
For more information, visit www.simpliphipower.com
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Craig Ernst SimpliPhi Power, Inc. +1 (805) 633-6006 [email protected]