Battery storage (EESS) commissioning certificates explained
A battery storage (EESS) commissioning record confirms the system was designed, installed and tested before handover; in a home, PAS 63100:2024 applies, while commercial and industrial sites rely on a fire risk assessment and the IET Code of Practice instead. This guide explains which documents apply where.
Last updated 15 October 2026. Written by the CertSync team and checked against the standards.
The short answer
A battery energy storage system commissioning record confirms an installation was designed, installed and tested before handover. BS 7671 Chapter 57 applies to the installation as part of the wiring regulations. For a dwelling, PAS 63100:2024 is the domestic-specific document. For commercial and industrial premises, PAS 63100 does not apply and the fire-safety evidence comes from a fire risk assessment together with the IET Code of Practice for Electrical Energy Storage Systems and the BS EN IEC 62485 series. Utility-scale battery sites sit under a different regime again and are outside this scope.
The domestic route — PAS 63100 and dwellings
PAS 63100:2024 is written specifically for battery energy storage systems installed in dwellings, and it is the document that gives the domestic fire-safety requirements their shape — siting, separation and the protective measures expected where a battery shares a building with people sleeping in it. BS 7671 Chapter 57 cross-references it for dwellings, which is why the two are normally read together on a domestic job.
The practical effect on the paperwork is a checklist: for a domestic install, the commissioning record can work through the PAS-derived fire-safety points as discrete questions with discrete answers, because the document is prescriptive enough to support that.
The non-domestic route — a fire risk assessment instead
PAS 63100 is domestic-only. That is a scope decision in the document, not a gap in coverage — but it does mean a commercial or industrial battery installation cannot simply reuse the domestic checklist. BS 7671 Chapter 57 requires a fire risk assessment for non-domestic battery installations, and that assessment, rather than a fixed list, is what drives the siting and protection decisions.
Alongside it sit the IET Code of Practice for Electrical Energy Storage Systems, which explicitly covers commercial — including multi-occupancy — and industrial applications, and the BS EN IEC 62485 series, the scale-agnostic safety standard for stationary batteries. So the non-domestic record should reference the fire risk assessment and record the siting rationale, rather than tick a checklist written for houses.
Where the boundary sits — and what is out of scope
Grid-scale and utility battery sites are outside the scope of this kind of record. They fall under a separate planning, fire and safety regime and are not an installer-completed commissioning document — a distinction worth being explicit about, because the phrase “battery storage” now covers everything from a cupboard unit to a field.
MCS operates an installation standard for battery storage in the same way it does for solar PV. As with PV, that is a scheme route rather than a legal minimum, and the scheme certificate is a separate output from the commissioning record.
Batteries paired with solar PV — still two certificates
A battery installed alongside a solar PV array is extremely common and is still a separate certificate, because the two systems answer to different standards. The PV side sits under BS 7671 §712 and the grid-connected PV Code of Practice; the battery sits under Chapter 57 and the EESS documents above.
Where the battery can export to the network, the connection notification is handled under the same Energy Networks Association route as any other generation — so a combined installation can involve one connection process and two commissioning records.
Frequently asked questions
- Does PAS 63100 apply to a commercial battery installation?
- No. PAS 63100:2024 is written for battery energy storage systems in dwellings. For commercial and industrial premises the fire-safety evidence comes from a fire risk assessment together with the IET Code of Practice for Electrical Energy Storage Systems and the BS EN IEC 62485 series.
- Which part of BS 7671 covers battery storage?
- Chapter 57. It applies to the installation as part of the wiring regulations and cross-references PAS 63100 for dwellings, which is why the two are normally read together on a domestic job.
- Do solar PV and a battery go on one certificate?
- No — they are recorded separately, because they follow different standards. That stays true when both are installed on the same job on the same day.
- Is a grid-scale battery site covered by this kind of certificate?
- No. Utility-scale battery sites sit under a separate planning, fire and safety regime and are not an installer-completed commissioning record.
- Is MCS registration required to install battery storage?
- It is not a legal requirement, but MCS operates an installation standard for battery storage and scheme registration is often the practical route into consumer-facing schemes — a separate output from the commissioning record itself.
- What makes a battery record different from a normal electrical certificate?
- The fire-safety and siting evidence. A general BS 7671 certificate has no fields for battery chemistry, siting rationale, separation or the fire-safety route taken, and those are the things a later inspector or insurer will ask about.
Disclaimer
This guide is general information, not professional advice, and does not replace professional judgement, training, scheme-body guidance or the current editions of BS 7671, PAS 63100, the IET Code of Practice for Electrical Energy Storage Systems and the BS EN IEC 62485 series. CertSync does not verify the qualifications of the people using it. The contractor named on a certificate is responsible for what it certifies.
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