This webinar explains how upcoming updates to battery fire codes and test standards will affect explosion prevention, enclosure performance, and large-scale fire testing, with practical insights from standards experts and manufacturers.
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As battery energy storage systems increase in size and energy density, fire codes and testing standards are tightening. The 2025 revision of UL 9540A and the 2026 edition of NFPA 855 introduce updated expectations around explosion prevention, enclosure performance and large-scale fire testing.
This webinar brings together independent standards expertise and manufacturer-led test insights to examine those developments in practical terms.
The session will open with a detailed look at UL 9540A (2025) and NFPA 855 (2026), outlining how large-scale fire testing protocols are evolving and what authorities are likely to expect from high-capacity container systems. Sean Yang, Lead R&D Engineer for UL Solutions’ Fire Research, will present this aspect.
In the second part of the webinar, Richard Ridgway, Senior Application Engineer at Hithium, will then present the company’s ∞Power 6.25 MWh container large-scale fire test. He will explain how the test was configured, what conditions were applied, and how the enclosure and internal safety systems responded under extreme thermal load.
The session will examine lessons learned and what validated test results may mean for spacing strategies, material selection and active safety system design.
This session will focus on European, Australian, Middle East, and Chinese markets.
Key discussion points include:
- Presentation and discussion of UL 9540A (2025) and NFPA 855 (2026)
- The role of full-scale fire testing in demonstrating compliance
- How validated test data is considered and presented
- Design considerations for high-energy-density containerised BESS
- The webinar will close with a live Q&A.
Questions can be submitted beforehand in the comments window when registering or in the chat during the live webinar.
Tristan Rayner, editor at pv magazine, will be the moderator of this webinar.
Registration for this webinar is free of charge.
Speakers
Richard Ridgway, Senior Application Engineer, Hithium
Senior Application Engineer specializing in utility-scale battery energy storage system design and grid integration. Experience spanning full project delivery, from system architecture and control strategy through to commissioning and handover on transmission and distribution networks.
Sean Yang | Lead R&D Engineer, UL Solutions
Sean Yang is a lead R&D engineer in UL Solutions’ Fire Research and Development group.
Sean Yang is a Lead R&D Engineer specializing in battery fire safety and thermal runaway research. Before joining UL Solutions, he worked at a Korean governmental company, where he supported U.S. and European certification activities for gas related appliances. Building on that foundation, he now conducts advanced research on battery fires and develops test methodologies to characterize thermal runaway behavior and associated fire hazards. Over the nine years with UL Solutions, he has certified renewable energy products and led numerous projects involving UL 9540A—the Standard Test Method for Evaluating Thermal Runaway Fire Propagation in Battery Energy Storage Systems.
Sean also contributed to the UL 9540A Technical Committee, helping update and refine large scale fire testing requirements. His technical work includes developing methods to analyze energy release of a cell and thermal runaway propagation, running physics based simulations, and applying machine learning to evaluate fire and explosion hazards in battery energy storage systems.
Moderators
Tristan Rayner | Editor, pv magazine
After studying Electrical Engineering, Tristan Rayner turned his attention to editorial roles. Prior to joining pv magazine in 2020, he was managing editor and founding editor of culture, tech and sport publications in Australia, and later contributed to publications including Android Authority, AFP, ZDNet, and YouTube channel The Friday Checkout, among other roles.
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