Standards for flow batteries

In 2010, the organising committee for the first IFBF conference identified the need to develop standards to support the growing flow battery industry. As a result, several companies and individuals formed a CENELEC workshop and CWA 50611: Flow batteries – Guidance on the specification, installation and operation was published in April 2013. Building on this work many flow battery standards have since been approved and published. 

Below is a list of national and international standards relevant to flow batteries. Care has been taken in the preparation of this information, but it is not necessarily complete or comprehensive. We thank Jens Noack of Fraunhofer ICT for collating this information and making it available to the IFBF.

The IFBF encourages all those in the industry to take an active interest in the development of standards, not only for flow batteries, but also those relating to other forms of electrical energy storage and associated equipment. If you wish to participate, you should contact your national committee for standards for further information.

Updated July 2024

IEC Standards

NumberTitle
IEC 60050International electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV)
IEC 62932-1:2020Flow battery energy storage systems for stationary applications – Part 1: Terminology and general aspects
IEC 62932-2-1:2020Flow battery energy storage systems for stationary applications – Part 2-1: Performance, general requirements and test methods
IEC 62932-2-2:2020Flow battery energy storage systems for stationary applications – Part 2-2: Safety requirements
IEC 61427-1:2013Secondary cells and batteries for renewable energy storage – General requirements and methods of test – Part 1: Photovoltaic off-grid application
IEC 61427-2:2015Secondary cells and batteries for renewable energy storage – General requirements and methods of test – Part 2: On-grid applications
IEC 62485-1:2015Safety requirements for secondary batteries and battery installations – Part 1: General safety information
IEC 62485-2:2010Safety requirements for secondary batteries and battery installations – Part 2: Stationary batteries
IEC 62933-1:2018Electrical energy storage (EES) systems – Part 1: Vocabulary
IEC 62933-2-1:2017Electrical energy storage (EES) systems – Part 2-1: Unit parameters and testing methods – General specification
IEC TS 62933-3-1:2020Electrical energy storage (EES) systems – Part 3-1: Planning and performance assessment of electrical energy storage systems – General specification
IEC TS 62933-4-1:2017Electrical energy storage (EES) systems – Part 4-1: Guidance on environmental issues – General specification
IEC TS 62933-5-1:2017Electrical energy storage (EES) systems – Part 5-1: Safety considerations for grid-integrated EES systems – General specification
IEC 62933-5-2:2020Electrical energy storage (EES) systems – Part 5-2: Safety requirements for grid-integrated EES systems – Electrochemical-based systems
IEC 60079-10-1Explosive atmospheres – Part 10-1: Classification of areas – Explosive gas atmospheres

IEEE Standards

NumberTitle
IEEE 2030.2.1-2019IEEE Guide for Design, Operation, and Maintenance of Battery Energy Storage Systems, both Stationary and Mobile, and Applications Integrated with Electric Power Systems
IEEE 1657-2018IEEE Recommended Practice for Personnel Qualifications for Installation and Maintenance of Stationary Batteries
IEEE 1679-2020IEEE Recommended Practice for the Characterization and Evaluation of Emerging Energy Storage Technologies in Stationary Applications
IEEE 1375-1998 (inactive)IEEE Guide for the Protection of Stationary Battery Systems
IEEE 1578-2018IEEE Recommended Practice for Stationary Battery Electrolyte Spill Containment and Management
IEEE 1491-2012IEEE Guide for Selection and Use of Battery Monitoring Equipment in Stationary Applications
IEEE 1660-2018IEEE Guide for Application and Management of Stationary Batteries Used in Cycling Service
IEEE 1635-2018IEEE/ASHRAE Guide for the Ventilation and Thermal Management of Batteries for Stationary Applications
IEEE 1881-2016IEEE Standard Glossary of Stationary Battery Terminology
IEEE 946-2020IEEE Recommended Practice for the Design of DC Power Systems for Stationary Applications
IEEE 1184-2006IEEE Guide for Batteries for Uninterruptible Power Supply Systems
IEEE 1547.1-2020IEEE Standard Conformance Test Procedures for Equipment Interconnecting Distributed Energy Resources with Electric Power Systems and Associated Interfaces

Other Standards

NumberTitleRemarks
CENELEC CWA 50611:2013Flow batteries – Guidance on the specification, installation and operationCENELEC workshop agreement on flow batteries
UL 9540Standard for Safety – Energy Storage Systems and EquipmentJoint Canadian – United States standard
UL 1973Batteries for Use in Stationary, Vehicle Auxiliary Power and Light Electric Rail (LER) Applications
NFPA 855Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage SystemsFire safety standard
ISO 15663:2001Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries – Life cycle costingInternational standard
EU Directive 2006/66/EC
(replaced by the new Batteries Regulation)
Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and the council of 6 September 2006 on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators and repealing Directive 91/157/EECEuropean Commission directive
EU Regulation
2023/1542
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2023 concerning batteries and waste batteries, amending Directive 2008/98/EC and Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and repealing Directive 2006/66/EC (Text with EEA relevance)European Parliament and the Council Regulation
BattG 2021German “Gesetz über das Inverkehrbringen, die Rücknahme und die umweltverträgliche Entsorgung von Batterien und Akkumulatoren (Batteriegesetz – BattG)German national law
UFC 3-520-05Stationary and Mission BatteriesUS-Military standard
UL 9540ATest method for evaluating thermal runaway fire propagation in battery energy storage systems
KS C 8547Redox flow battery for use in energy storage system – Performance and safety testsKorean standard
PNNL-22010Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems
CSA F382:M89Characterization of Storage Batteries for Photovoltaic SystemsCanadian standard

Chinese National Standards

NumberTitle
GB/T 29840-2013Vanadium flow battery – Terminology
GB/T 32509-2016General specification for vanadium flow battery
GB/T 33339-2016Vanadium flow battery system – Test method
GB/T 34866-2017Vanadium flow battery – Safety requirements
GB/T 37204-2018Electrolyte for Vanadium flow battery
NB/T 42006-2013Electrolyte for vanadium flow battery – test method
NB/T 42007-2013Bipolar plate for vanadium flow battery – test method
NB/T 42040-2014General specification for vanadium flow battery – Abolished 2018!
NB/T 42080-2016Testing method of ion conducting membrane for vanadium redox flow battery
NB/T 42081-2016Performance test method for single cell of all – vanadium redox flow battery
NB/T 42082-2016Test Method for Electrode of Vanadium Redox flow battery

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