Article**: Polaris Energy Storage Network.
On February 5, 2024, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a document proposing a mandatory recall of LG energy storage batteries that pose safety risks. The document said that the batteries in question could overheat and catch fire without warning, which is a safety hazard, and urged consumers to check whether the photovoltaic energy storage system they use uses unsafe energy storage batteries. (It is reported that in 2023, the Australian authorities have also issued a notice to recall the battery.) It could catch fire at any time! The emergency recall of energy storage batteries in Australia has caused a number of accidents).
It is reported that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which is subordinate to the Australian Treasury, is the market regulator under Australia.
On Feb. 5, the agency issued a proposed mandatory recall notice for LG energy storage batteries, warning consumers that the recalled LG energy storage batteries pose a fire risk. The affected energy storage batteries are scattered across solar energy storage systems across Australia.
It is understood that the products affected by this recall are manufactured by LG New Energy from January 21, 2016 to June 30, 2019, and are used to provide energy storage batteries for Australian individuals, households and other household energy storage systems. The main models are LG S A Gen2 1P (EM048063P3S4) and LG S A Gen2P (EM048126P3S7).
As of September 2023, LG has reported 73 battery thermal runaway incidents globally, with 28 reported incidents in Germany, 13 in Australia, and 10 in the United States, according to the ACCC filing. Of the 13 accidents in Australia, 11 involved batteries** and caused significant property damage, with at least one person injured by smoke inhalation.
Of the battery thermal runaway incidents that occurred across Australia, there were five in Queensland, four in Victoria, two in New South Wales, one in the Australian Capital Territory and one in Western Australia, with the first nine incidents occurring in previous voluntary recalls of batteries and the subsequent four incidents occurring in software remediation recalls of batteries.
One of the battery recalls for software fixes resulted in the complete destruction of a property in Victoria. Other Australian ignition incidents affected by LG batteries have also caused serious property damage and could result in serious injury or death if the batteries are installed inside the property or in close proximity to flammable materials.
There are two main reasons for this recall, on the one hand, the LG energy storage batteries in question may cause harm to anyone even under reasonable use conditions; On the other hand, the ** vendors affected by the LG energy storage battery problem did not take satisfactory action to prevent the product from causing harm to anyone.
As of 25 January 2024, of the 18,046 affected LG energy storage batteries in Australia, 6,235 (35%) remain unrepaired, of which 4,950 (27%) have not been found, according to the ACCC filing. That said, about 80% of the unused batteries have not yet been found, and affected consumers may not be aware of the huge risks associated with energy storage batteries installed in their home PV energy storage systems.
Given the significant risk of injury, as well as the first voluntary recall and software repair recall, which have been ongoing since August 2020 and August 2022, respectively. It is understood that the ACCC has issued recall notices on February 25, 2021 and September 29, 2023 respectively. However, the ACCC said that the location and repair rate of the affected LG batteries was surprisingly low and unsatisfactory.
Recently, under pressure from the ACCC and the Energy Security Agency of Victoria, LG's recall campaign has been extended to cover short-term television, radio and print newspaper advertisements.
Therefore, in this recall notice, consumers are once again urged to self-check, and if they use the affected energy storage batteries but do not receive remedial measures, they need to immediately turn off the batteries and contact LG New Energy.
Catriona Lowe, Vice Chairman, said, "Even if you don't have an LG brand solar energy storage system, please follow our recommended steps to check to protect your home and family. Because some of the affected energy storage batteries are installed in energy storage systems that are sold by other brands or unbranded. ”
The latest draft recall notice will require LG to effectively communicate the recall to consumers, provide timely remedial measures, and use its best efforts to complete the recall within 12 months.
LG has also pledged to compensate consumers who face higher energy bills when the system is shut down.
Under the Australian Consumer Law, the proposed recall notice is annexed to the draft recall notice, which also requires LG to publicize the recall and serious safety risks in order to increase consumer awareness and positioning rates so that these dangerous batteries can be repaired without delay.
In addition, according to Lowe, the next step, if requested by any energy storage** affected by this recall, the ACCC will meet on February 20, 2024, and after the meeting, the ACCC will make a recommendation on whether to issue a mandatory recall.
Affected energy storage battery and energy storage system models.
solax x-cabinet
solax power station
opal storage
In the 2021 recall notice, the affected product models include:
resu3.3 • resu6.5 • resu10 • resu13 • resu7h type-r • resu10h type-c
resu10h type-r • resu10h type-r • s/a gen2 1p （em048063p3s4） •s/a gen2 2p （em048126p3s7）
s/a gen2 1p （em048063p3s5）
Affected dealers include:
agl energy、baywa、csr、eguana technologies、energy australia、krannich solar、mmem、one stop warehouse、rheem、red earth energy storage、redback technologies、solar juice、solax、sonepar (as solar plus solutions)、supply partners、varta……
In the 2022 recall notice, the LG S A Gen2 energy storage battery is clearly recalled, and the affected energy storage systems include SolaX Power products manufactured between April 1, 2017 and July 31, 2018, and distributors include: MS Corporation Pty Ltd, Solar Juice Pty Ltd, and Supply Partners Pty Ltd.
In the September 29, 2023 recall notice, the affected energy storage batteries were manufactured on January 21, 2016 to March 28, 2017, and September 14, 2018 to June 30, 2019, while safety inspections were also recommended for energy storage batteries manufactured between March 29, 2017 and September 13, 2018.
In addition, the range of affected energy storage battery models has been further expanded to include:
resu3.3
resu6.5
resu10
resu13
resu7h type-r
resu10h type-c
resu10h type-r
resu10h type-r (secondary)
em048063p3s2 (standalone gen2 1p)
em048063p3s4 (standalone gen2 1p)
em048063p3s5 (standalone gen2 1p)
em048126p3s7 (standalone gen2 2p)
em048126p3s8 (standalone gen2 2p)
Known brands of affected energy storage systems include: LG Branded Resu Systems, SolaX Power Station, SolaX X-Cabinet, Opal Storage, Redback SH5000, Red Earth Sunrise, Red Earth Drop Bear, Eguana Evolve, Varta Pulse Neo.
About LG Energy Solution.
It is understood that LG New Energy was spun off from the battery business of LG Group, and was listed on the South Korean ** Exchange in January 2022, covering three major areas: power batteries, energy storage batteries, and energy storage systems, but the power battery sector is still its biggest profit**.
On January 26, 2024, LG New Energy announced its 2023 annual performance report, with annual comprehensive revenue of 337 trillion won (about 181 billion yuan), operating profit of 22 trillion won (about 11.8 billion yuan), an increase of 31 percent year-on-year8% and 782%。