Relating to fire safety standards and emergency operations plans for the operation of battery energy storage facilities; providing administrative penalties.

Contracts

• EPC Agreements: You must amend Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contracts to mandate compliance with NFPA 855 (2023 edition or later) and UL 9540A testing standards. Require the delivery of technical site layouts and fire protection specs as a condition of Substantial Completion.
• O&M Agreements: Revise agreements to clearly allocate the cost and responsibility for the mandatory five-year third-party engineering inspection and the annual first responder training.
• Consulting MSAs: Establish Master Services Agreements with licensed Texas engineers who are "independent" (not your design firm) to conduct the required statutory reviews.

Hiring/Training

• First Responder Liaison: Designate a specific point of contact responsible for scheduling and funding annual, no-cost training for local fire departments and first responders.
• Drill Coordination: Operational teams must schedule and document regular emergency drills as part of the Site-Specific Emergency Operations Plan.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

• Pre-COD Filings: You must submit a Third-Party Engineering Report and a Site-Specific Emergency Operations Plan to the municipality or county *before* commercial operations begin.
• Recurring Audits: A new Third-Party Fire Safety Inspection Report must be filed with the local government every five years.
• On-Site Docs: The Emergency Operations Plan, Safety Data Sheets (SDS), and drill logs must be physically maintained on-site.

Fees & Costs

• Engineering Review Costs: The operator bears the full cost of the third-party engineering review. This is a variable market rate fee that must be budgeted for pre-commissioning and every five years thereafter.
• Retrofit Risk: Failure to design to NFPA 855 (2023) now for a 2027 project will result in significant capital expenditure to retrofit before the facility can legally operate.