State plans fire-safety code updates for battery storage plants

New York State on Friday released proposed updates to its fire safety code for large battery-storage systems planned for energy grids across the state, as local governments continued to express wariness by enacting moratoriums on battery development.

The new standards are aimed at making sure emergency crews can better respond to potential fires, the battery sites have adequate signage, and the units’ designs have been properly reviewed. The new standards are being proposed after Gov. Kathy Hochul convened a working group following three fires at battery plants in New York last year, including one in East Hampton.

The state will accept public comments on the proposed new standards through Sept 24.

One measure would require any lithium-ion battery plant that exceeded 600 kilowatt-hour capacity to undergo an independent peer review while in the planning stages, according to the New York Energy Research and Development Authority, which is administering the new programs. Most of the units use lithium-ion batteries. 

The proposals also would require posting safety signage beyond the battery enclosures themselves, to include fences and security barriers. They would also require “qualified personnel” or reps with knowledge of the plant be available for dispatch in 15 minutes and on-site within four hours of a fire “to provide support” to local emergency responders.

NYSERDA chief executive Doreen Harris, in a statement, said the new standards, if adopted, "will be critical in enhancing the resiliency and efficiency of New York’s grid while prioritizing safety for New Yorkers."

The rules are expected to be finalized next year, and will apply to all new installations after the effective date of the code adoption, said Jade Kraft, a spokeswoman for the Department of State.

While considered safe, lithium-ion battery storage systems can experience failures, and in some cases thermal runaway events with super high heats that make them difficult or impossible to extinguish using conventional firefighting methods. Most of the units are designed to be self-contained to limit impacts if there is a fire, with internal extinguishing systems to put them out. 

In the case of the East Hampton fire on May 31, 2023, local fire crews responded to the smoky blaze but did not battle the fire, which was put out by the system’s internal sprinkler systems after 30 hours. Firefighters ultimately didn’t need to enact a 1-mile evacuation zone that had been planned. Site owner NextEra would not say what caused the blaze, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation has closed a spill investigation at the site.

The new fire safety codes come as many Long Island towns enact moratoriums on approving new battery storage units until more is known about their risks and safety.

Just this week, Southampton Town extended one of Long Island’s first moratoriums, for six months, while other towns such as Southold, Huntington, Babylon and Oyster Bay have enacted them.

The Sachem school district is suing to block construction of one hotly contested battery plant unit in Holtsville, near a movie theater, hotels, homes and schools. Brookhaven Town has largely supported battery storage, even while recently rejecting one facility in Mount Sinai as too close to homes. 

LIPA has plans for hundreds of megawatts of battery storage units for the next several years,  including in Hauppauge, Shoreham, the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Babylon, some stalled by moratoriums. New York State foresees up to 6,000 megawatts of battery units added to the grid over the next decade.

The units are needed to store wind and solar power when they are producing excess power, and to help back up the grid as utilities comply with state mandates to begin retiring fossil-fuel plants. The state plans to have a zero-emission energy sector by 2040.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.