Poweroad Battery Passes Large-Scale Fire Test
Poweroad's FLEX-261 Series cabinets were tested under UL 9540A and CSA C800 standards, with fire failing to spread to adjacent units.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Safety
In mid-August 2026, Poweroad's FLEX-261 Series passed large-scale fire testing under ANSI/CAN/UL 9540A:2026 and CSA/ANSI C800:2025. CSA Group issued a Letter of Attestation documenting the testing and evaluation.
Why it matters
The test evaluated whether a fire in one energy storage cabinet could spread to neighboring units in a multi-cabinet installation. Results provide documented evidence relevant to safety assessments for commercial and industrial energy storage deployments.
The evidence is a large-scale fire test with one initiating cabinet at 100% state of charge and four adjacent target cabinets, none of which showed venting, thermal runaway, or fire. Fire suppression was disabled, and the source does not address performance under other configurations.
The players
Poweroad
Poweroad is an energy storage company that has deployed more than 1,000 commercial and industrial energy storage projects worldwide.
CSA Group
CSA Group is a standards development and certification organization that issued the Letter of Attestation documenting the Poweroad testing.
The details
The FLEX 261, FLEX 261 AIO, and FLEX 261 AIO-3S models were evaluated, with the initiating cabinet's door and deflagration panel manually opened before testing. Cabinets maintained structural integrity, and Poweroad has deployed more than 1,000 C&I energy storage projects worldwide.
Timeline
Mid-August 2026: Large-scale fire test conducted on the FLEX-261 Series.
November 4, 2026: pv magazine published an article reporting the test results.
Seasonal Patterns
The Poweroad test was conducted under ANSI/CAN/UL 9540A:2026, Sixth Edition, the current edition of the standard used to evaluate fire propagation in battery energy storage systems. The result documents conformance with that edition's large-scale fire test requirements for multi-cabinet installations.
Facility operators planning multi-cabinet energy storage installations can use documented large-scale fire test results when evaluating fire-spread risk. Results apply to the tested configuration with suppression disabled, so operators should confirm how each product's certification covers their own layout.
The takeaway
Large-scale fire testing under current UL and CSA standards provides documented evidence that a fire in one energy storage cabinet did not spread to adjacent units in the tested setup. Stakeholders should weigh these results alongside installation design and suppression systems.
Further reading
Explore more on Safety to see how energy storage fire standards are applied in practice.
Source note: This article includes information reported by pv magazine International.
