After three fires this summer at commercial battery storage facilities in N.Y., Hochul creates working group for safety investigation

Following the third fire at a battery energy storage facility in as many months in New York this summer, Gov. Kathy Hochul last week announced the creation of a state inter-agency working group tasked with ensuring the safety of battery energy storage systems across New York.

The governor’s announcement came the day after fire erupted at a battery energy storage system in the Town of Lyme, in upstate Jefferson County on July 27. Hochul cited that fire and others at battery energy storage facilities in the Town of Warwick, in Orange County on June 26 and in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk on May 31.

The state working group will begin immediate inspections of energy storage sites across the state, Hochul said, and “collaborate with first responders and local leaders to identify best practices, address potential risks to public safety, and ensure energy storage sites across New York are safe and effective.”

Energy storage is a vital component in a power grid that relies on renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind power. Battery systems store power produced by renewable energy systems for deployment during peak times of consumption, when wind and solar systems are often not at peak production.

New York State law has set goals to generate 70% of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040.

The governor in December announced ambitious plans to attain energy storage capacity of 6 gigawatts by 2030, an amount she said equals at least 20% of the state’s peak electricity load.

As of May 31, there were 4,368 completed energy storage projects in New York State, according to data published by New York Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA.) The vast majority of those are “retail” storage systems, installed at homes and businesses to store electricity produced by solar panels.

Hochul last week said fires at battery energy storage facilities are “exceedingly rare,” but the working group would “independently examine energy storage facility fires and safety standards.”

All three BESS fires in New York State were successfully contained and no injuries were reported, though they did cause significant disruption in surrounding areas.

Residents within a one-mile radius of the July 27 fire at the Convergent Energy facility in Lyme were directed to shelter in place for several hours that day.

The Lyme fire burned four lithium battery storage trailers built at the company’s solar farm there to store electricity produced at the solar facility. Days after the fire was out, officials said the area remained too hot for anyone to enter and investigate the cause, according to news reports. Firefighters and public safety personnel had to remain on scene to watch the facility for the outbreak of new fires. The lithium battery system at this facility were built by General Electric, Convergent Energy said.

Residents near the facility worried about air quality from emissions at the burning facility and impacts to drinking water and water bodies from runoff, since firefighters had to pour water on the fire for three days.

Local officials assured residents there were no toxic byproducts in the air, and no indication of any groundwater or runoff contamination that would pose health risks, according to local news reports.

The 20 MW Lyme BESS facility went online in March 2022, according to NYSERDA.

The East Hampton fire, at a 5 MW BESS facility that went online in 2018, closed nearby roads and disrupted LIRR service on the Montauk branch. It remains out of service.

The fire in Warwick, in Orange County, broke out June 26 at a 12 MW Convergent Energy battery storage facility that was completed just a month earlier.

The batteries at Convergent’s Warwick facility were manufactured by Powin and were “two of Powin’s newest model battery storage systems, which are referred to as the Centipede,” according to Convergent Energy.

Powin batteries were featured in a proposal aired last year by Hexagon Energy to build a 100 MW BESS facility on a 3.6-acre site at 95 Mill Road in Riverhead, just north of the train tracks. Hexagon’s Riverhead site plan depicted Powin Stack750 Centipede modular battery system consisting of 448 lithium iron phosphate batteries in 16-battery segments.

Southold and Southampton towns this year both enacted moratoria on new battery energy storage systems, to allow officials time to evaluate fire and safety concerns. Commercial-scale BESS systems have been proposed in each town — one in Cutchogue and one in Hampton Bays. The Southold Town Board created a task force to study the issue and make recommendations to the town.

After two proposals for commercial-scale BESS systems surfaced in Riverhead Town last year, including the Mill Road site, local residents also sought a moratorium. Residents argued that the new use should be studied in the context of the ongoing comprehensive plan update. But the Riverhead Town Board decided against a moratorium. The board also issued a determination of non-significance under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, dispensing with an extensive environmental review of the proposed code before taking action on it.

The Town Board held two public hearings last year, and in April of this year unanimously adopted a code to regulate the location and construction of BESS facilities in Riverhead Town. The new code allows utility-scale battery energy storage systems by special permit in five zoning districts: Industrial A, Industrial C, Planned Industrial Park, Agricultural Protection, and Residence A-80 zoning use districts.

The Mill Road site in Riverhead eyed by Hexagon Energy is in the Residence B-40 zoning use district, where BESS facilities are not a permitted use under the new code. The developer could apply to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a use variance, which, if granted, would allow the development of a BESS facility in a zoning district outside the code’s requirements. According to a discussion between Hexagon representatives and the Riverhead Planning Board last year, the developer was exploring the possibility of a use variance application prior to the adoption of the BESS code by the Town Board.

Another BESS facility under discussion is one at a site on Edwards Avenue in Calverton, in the vicinity of a LIPA substation and several commercial solar facilities already in operation or under construction. That 60 MW facility is proposed by Rhynland Energy on a 1.7-acre site on Edwards Avenue.

Council Member Bob Kern, who took the lead among Town Board members on the issue of BESS facilities in Riverhead and advocated for moving forward with the BESS code adoption, said today he was unaware of the recent fires upstate or the creation of the state inter-agency task force. He did not have second thoughts about adopting the BESS code, he said.

“I think passing the code is fine. Now that you brought this up — I mean, this is something that obviously we need to pay attention to and see what’s happening at the governor’s office,” Kern said. He said he would contact NYSERDA, and make sure that I’m updated on it or not me but the entire town board.

“I want to see where the governor’s office is at, because they’re pushing a lot of stuff, you know, for 2030,” Kern said.

“Some things are the cart before the horse,” he said.

The state working group, led by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services’ Office of Fire Prevention and Control, NYSERDA, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Public Service, and the Department of State, “will help prevent fires and ensure emergency responders have the necessary training and information to prepare and deploy resources in the event of a fire,” Hochul said last week.

The working group will “independently examine energy storage facility fires and safety standards,” Hochul said. “The group will leverage nationally renowned experts and national laboratories” to “independently assess and identify common causes, air monitoring results or other community impacts, and other factors involved with energy storage fires,” the governor said.

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