What is class 35.16, storage of electricity?

Class 35.16 covers storage of electricity. It was created in the restructuring of group 35.1 in NACE Rev. 2.1. Its explanatory note defines storage as a cycle of conversion, storing and reconversion, with examples including pumped storage, compressed air storage and battery storage facilities. The class is statistical only, and it does not determine a code for a specific reader.

What does the note include?

The note includes conversion of electrical energy into a form of energy which can be stored, the storing of such energy, and the subsequent reconversion of such energy into electrical energy, with examples including operation of pumped storage facilities, compressed air storage facilities, or battery storage facilities. The note also includes distribution of stored electricity into electricity mains and networks. The inclusion is therefore a cycle, not a single operation. All three stages, conversion, storing and reconversion, form the activity, and the distribution of the stored electricity is included as part of the same activity. A facility that performs only one stage of the cycle, in isolation, must be read against the note and the notes for the neighbouring classes, because the note defines the class by the cycle as a whole.

The cycle definition separates storage from production in a principled way. Production classes 35.11 and 35.12 cover generation of electricity from a source. Storage class 35.16 covers taking electricity already generated, storing it in another form, and returning it as electricity. The stored electricity is not new generation, and the storage activity does not create energy in the sense the production classes use. The manual therefore gives storage its own class, so that statistics can distinguish the storage cycle from generation, even where the same unit carries on both activities, subject to the principal activity rules for the unit as a whole.

What does the note exclude?

The note excludes production of electricity not by storage to classes 35.11 and 35.12. The exclusion is short, and it states the boundary in one line: generation that is not part of the storage cycle sits in the production classes, by source. The brevity of the exclusion does not make the boundary simple in practice. A facility that generates electricity, stores part of it, and distributes the rest, carries on activities in more than one class, and the principal activity rules govern the classification of the unit, in general terms. The note for the storage class must be read with the notes for the production classes, and with the introductory guidelines on multiple activities, before the entry for such a unit is stated.

The note for class 35.12 also excludes production of electricity as part of the storage activities to class 35.16, and the note for class 35.11 does the same. The three notes therefore point at each other, and the boundary is stated three times, from each side. A reader who reads only the storage note will see the boundary from the storage side. A reader who reads all three notes will see the boundary as the manual draws it, from every side. The three way cross referencing is a feature of the manual’s drafting, and it is the reason the notes must be read together for this group.

How is the class placed in the hierarchy?

| Level | Identifier | Title |

|---|---|---|

| Section | D | Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply |

| Division | 35 | Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply |

| Group | 35.1 | Electric power generation, transmission and distribution |

| Class | 35.16 | Storage of electricity |

The table follows the detailed structure. The class number 35.16 sits after the transmission, distribution and trade classes in the group, because the manual lists the group in the order production, transmission, distribution, trade, storage. The number order is the order of listing, not a sequence of operations, and the storage cycle is not the last stage of a production chain in the sense the numbers might suggest. The table states the place of the class. The note states its content.

What does a new class not decide?

Unless the manual states the source in section 4 or in an explanatory note, the old classes supplying a new class content are not stated in this cluster. The guide states plainly when the manual gives no source, and points to the correspondence table, where the relationship is recorded class by class. From a title alone, no source list can be invented without misstating the revision and inviting a one to one mapping assumption the table does not support. The limit is stated directly in the guardrail on this page, and the body of the guide states it again in different words.

Where is a new class confirmed?

The explanatory note for the class, the correspondence table entry showing its relation to the old classes, and the national statistical institute or business register holding the record are the three checks for a new class and the entry held for a unit.

Read storage as a conversion, storing and reconversion cycle, keep generation in the production classes, and confirm the entry with the institute or register that holds it.