Sungrow has extended its approach to the residential sector after successfully completing two real-unit combustion verifications in utility-scale storage.
According to the company, as residential energy storage systems become increasingly prevalent, safety has emerged as a top priority for homeowners.
Any incident in a residential setting can lead to serious consequences, and recent reports of accidents have further heightened public concern.
In response, Sungrow has taken proactive steps to strengthen industry confidence and advance safety standards.
The SBH Series: Residential ESS has achieved a notable milestone by passing the world’s first UL 9540B large-scale fire test, conducted by UL Solutions.
UL 9540B, specifically designed for residential energy storage systems range from 20kWh and below, is widely regarded as the industry’s most stringent safety standard.
The test subject systems are subjected to forced thermal runaway while fully charged, simulating extreme fire scenarios, including flammable gas buildup, venting and external ignition.
Its purpose is to evaluate the system’s ability to prevent fire spread, explosions and other secondary risks.
This standard demands exceptional performance in areas such as system insulation, gas management, thermal runaway suppression, and overall engineering design.
Against these stringent requirements, Sungrow‘s SBH Residential ESS successfully withstood a demanding 24-hour trial.
Confronted with multiple challenges—including closely spaced battery units, deactivated active fire suppression, continuous ignition triggers, and no external intervention—the system demonstrated inherent safety controls, passing all evaluation criteria.
The SBH Residential ESS demonstrated fire containment during the UL 9540B fire safety test, thanks to a range of advanced safety features, including cell-level fire-resistant insulation, bottom heat dissipation and multi-directional pressure relief.
During the test, when one unit ignited due to thermal runaway, the flames were confined to the pressure relief area.
Adjacent units recorded internal surface temperatures of just 21°C—well below the 154°C venting threshold—while eave temperatures peaked at 35°C, far under the 150°C limit.
By leveraging structural designs that facilitate rapid heat dissipation and thermal isolation between modules, the SBH Residential ESS successfully confined thermal runaway to the bottom module.
Without any fire suppression intervention, the open flames self-extinguished within one hour.
Further ignition attempts over the next 24 hours resulted in no re-ignition, demonstrating the system’s exceptional safety performance.
With the active fire suppression system disabled throughout testing, the SBH Residential ESS experienced no combustion events, explosions or projectile hazards.
The cabinet remained fully intact, showcasing outstanding fire resistance, explosion prevention and structural stability.
Building on its previous success in the UL 9540A Thermal Runaway Fire Propagation Test, the SBH Residential ESS has now passed the rigorous UL 9540B large-scale fire test.
Sungrow has extended its approach to the residential sector after successfully completing two real-unit combustion verifications in utility-scale storage.
