Sony today announced that it has acquired ‘UL Subject 1973’ safety standards accreditation in stationary storage batteries from UL (Underwriters Laboratories), an international third-party testing and accreditation institution, for its energy storage system comprised of an energy storage module launched in April 2011 and a controller that controls both charging and discharging in addition to storage battery conservation that was launched in January 2012. This is the world’s first energy storage system to obtain this accreditation under ‘UL Subject 1973’ from UL. The energy storage module itself was also granted this accreditation.

Until now, safety standards for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries were formulated primarily for mobile device applications. Conversely, market trends in recent years have seen an expansion in the large-sized stationary storage battery market for power source backup applications for offices and mobile phone base stations, or for smart grid applications for energy-conservation and peak shifting. It was under these circumstances that UL, a premier global independent safety science company in U.S., newly developed its ‘UL Subject 1973’ safety standard for stationary storage batteries that contain lithium-ion rechargeable batteries in October, 2010. Sony promptly applied for compliance testing of this new standard for its energy storage system and energy storage module, and the safety and performance compatibility of these products has been proven.
With its newly-acquired accreditation, Sony hopes that as many consumers as possible will acknowledge the safety and reliability of its storage batteries and energy storage systems. Sony will also work to promote activities that will contribute to the expansion of the stationary storage battery market.

In addition, the aforementioned energy storage system and energy storage module have also received accreditation for the Japanese domestic safety standard known as ‘SBA (standard established by ‘Battery Association of Japan’),’ and has also been acknowledged as a product eligible for subsidization under the ‘SII (Sustainable Open Innovation Initiative)’.