IRVINE, Calif., May 22, 2026 — Novele today announced that its EnergyBoard system has completed installation-level large-scale fire testing based on the 6th Edition of UL 9540A, published March 13, 2026. The testing supports a reduction of more than 60% in the required space between units, expanding where EnergyBoard can be deployed inside buildings. Further, the test covered an alternative cell from a second qualified supplier, adding manufacturing capacity as deployment volumes grow.
UL 9540A is the only fire and explosion test method referenced in the 2026 edition of NFPA 855, and the 6th Edition revised Section 10 to require an explicit large-scale fire test. For indoor installations it evaluates enclosure design, separation distances and building-based suppression under an assumed post-deflagration condition, rather than crediting deflagration venting as the primary control. That is a higher evidentiary bar for any product marketed for placement inside an occupied building, and reports written to the 5th Edition face a re-test obligation as jurisdictions adopt the 2026 code.
Required separation distance determines how many units fit in a given space, and therefore how much capacity a building can install. Reducing it is one of the constraints Novele actively engineers against.
"We ran our own large-scale fire test in 2025, before any published standard required one, because that was the evidence a building owner needed. The 6th Edition now requires it, and testing to it cut required clearance by more than 60%. That changes which buildings we can enter, and it gives an AHJ a report written to the standard they are adopting." — Charles Conwell, CEO and Co-Founder, Novele
About Novele
Novele is an applied-AI company for energy in the built environment, making buildings intelligent with the hardware-enabled AI layer that lets them predict, reshape, and optimize their power in real time. EnergyBoard, its modular energy storage platform, is built for indoor installation in occupied commercial buildings, and BoardOS is the intelligence that orchestrates it across a single site or an entire portfolio.
Media Contact
Nathalie Jones
media@novele.com
novele.com