LG announces major recall of storage batteries on fire risks

Homeowners with solar panels are being warned some popular energy storage batteries could catch fire, cause serious injury or even death.

Homeowners with solar panels are being urgently warned to check their storage batteries after a major retailer revealed defects that could lead some of its products to overheat and catch fire.

LG Energy Solution Australia has recalled some of its energy storage system (ESS) home batteries, which are installed in residential energy solar systems, after some of them caught fire and caused damage to property.

Currently known systems that might contain affected batteries include LG branded RESU systems, SolaX Power Station, SolaX X-Cabinet, Opal Storage, Redback SH5000, Red Earth Sunrise, Red Earth Drop Bear, Eguana Evolve and VARTA Pulse Neo.

The batteries allow owners to capture and store energy from solar panels.

Solar panels on suburban home

The affected batteries are equipped with cells containing electrodes from all production lots manufactured from January 21, 2016 to March 28, 2017 and September 14, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is calling on consumers to take “urgent action” and visit the LG ESS website to check if their batteries are affected.

“If a battery overheats, it may catch on fire and cause injury or death or damage to property. Incidents have occurred and caused damage to property,” the ACCC stated on Friday.

“If you have an affected battery and you are yet to receive diagnostic software either remotely or from a technician site visit, please switch the battery off and contact LGESAU to schedule a technician site visit to install the diagnostic software.

“To minimise the risk of fire, please keep the battery switched off until the diagnostic software is installed. If you are unsure how to switch your battery off, please contact LGESAU for assistance.”

Major traders including AGL Energy and Energy Australia have sold the batteries to customers.