NFPA 855 2026 Edition: Key Changes and New Requirements

The 2026 edition of NFPA 855, the standard for stationary energy storage systems (ESS), introduces significant updates over the 2023 edition. Key changes include renaming Table 1.3's title from 'Quantities' to 'Levels', reorganizing the table alphabetically, and removing ESS category headers. Nine new ESS technologies are added: hybrid supercapacitor, iron-air (aqueous), lithium metal, nickel-iron, nickel-metal hydride, sodium-sulfur, zinc-air (aqueous), zinc-bromine, and manganese dioxide. New standalone chapters address flow battery installations (Chapter 16) and ESS on barges and vessels (Chapter 17), covering hazard mitigation, fire control, leak control, mooring, and decommissioning. The standard retains all 10 existing ESS technologies with unchanged capacity thresholds. These updates expand applicability to emerging technologies and deployment scenarios, ensuring safer installation practices for residential, commercial, and grid-scale systems.