We can, and should, make battery energy storage safe for our communities

At a recent civic association meeting in Port Jefferson Station, the audience became increasingly concerned during a presentation by a representative for New Leaf Energy, a developer planning to build a 7.5 megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) near Comsewogue High School. The representative was flummoxed by questions about safety, and insisted that BESS installations are extremely safe and fires rare. The audience, on the other hand, knew that the only BESS in Suffolk County, operated in East Hampton by NextEra Energy, had a fire in 2023.

Both the presenter and the audience were right.

Increasing our energy storage is key for transitioning to a clean energy economy, so electricity from renewables can be used whenever we need it, not only when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. Although there are many ways to store energy, lithium batteries are currently the most versatile and available energy storage material, which is why they are ubiquitous in electric vehicles and laptops. The amount of battery storage in New York, nationally, and globally has grown quickly in the past five years. New York has seen an increase from about 80 MW of storage in 2019 to almost 400 MW in 2024, with a goal of 6,000 MW statewide by 2030. Nonetheless, there is a real, if rare, risk of fire for lithium batteries, especially in large unattended arrays, and that risk must be managed carefully to keep our communities safe.

How rare are fires at BESS installations? According to EPRI, a nonprofit that tracks reported incidents at BESS installations worldwide, the fire in East Hampton was one of only 15 grid-scale BESS failures reported across the globe in 2023, and 2024 saw only five such fires. The number of fires reported at BESS facilities has held constant or dropped while global grid-scale battery energy storage capacity has grown dramatically, from approximately 3 gigawatts in 2019 to about 50 GW in 2023. Thankfully, the number of injuries resulting from these incidents is also small.

The frequency and seriousness of fires at BESS facilities have improved because of increased attention to safety risks, which has led to improved technology and safety procedures. Following fires in 2023 at three separate facilities in New York, including the one in East Hampton, Gov. Kathy Hochul created an interagency task force on battery storage safety, which recommended many improvements to state fire code. The draft changes have yet to become final. To protect the safety of our communities, it is imperative that new BESS installations be held to these best practice standards, whether or not they become part of state code.

These standards require, for example, that the BESS include a battery monitoring system for temperature, voltage, current, and gas emissions that can be accessed remotely in real time, and that it have a complete emergency response plan developed in conjunction with local fire service personnel and local government officials.

BESS owners and operators also should have a plan for regular inspections, maintenance, and system upgrades.

To help ensure that all technical safety precautions are met, the state task force also recommended that every new BESS installation undergo independent peer review, paid for by the developers of the site.

Accidents and fires are very rare at BESS facilities. Nonetheless, careful planning, engineering, and training will be critically important to make sure that if such an emergency does take place, our fire departments have all the tools they need to keep our communities safe.

This guest essay reflects the views of Nancy S. Goroff, retired professor of chemistry at Stony Brook University and former trustee of the Long Island Power Authority.