Southampton Weighs Restrictions on Battery Storage Facilities Amid Safety Concerns & Community Pushback

Battery storage technology, described as an important method of bringing much-needed green energy to Long Island, has run into trouble in Southampton Town, which is considering measures to restrict such a proposed facility.

After an 18-month long study and moratorium, the Southampton town board is considering several measures that would limit the technology, after severe pushback by local residents. Residents argued that Southampton’s existing codes do not address growing safety concerns about such facilities.

Those concerns center on a fire in an East Hampton battery storage unit in May 2023 that took 30 hours to bring under control. The facility went back in operation last year, according to the Long Island Power Authority and the contractor, NextEra Energy. The 5-mgawatt plant began operations in 2018.

The facility, on Cove Hollow in a residential and business area of East Hampton, was built under a $55 million contract to LIPA to help develop green energy on the East End.

But residents became alarmed after firefighters who responded to the blaze said the operators of the facility were unable to provide them with such basic information as to what potential toxins were released in the smoke and fire.

According to a New York State environmental report, there were other problems: plant testers waited for four months before collecting oil samples around the site, did not collect groundwater samples and did not test for the release of lithium. Ultimately, lithium tests were conducted, and amounts were found to be below hazardous levels.

Fires at battery storage facilities have occurred in numerous places across the U.S. most notable in San Diego, described as the world’s largest, which burned for five days.

As a result of those incidents and the pleas by residents, Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore said at a recent public hearing that the town will take a cautious approach regarding such facilities and where they may operate.

While battery storage plants may be necessary to increase green energy production, Moore said Southampton wants to place some restrictions on potential sites “for the protection of the community.”

“In the future, when the technology changes, we’ll be happy to revisit it,” she added.

A number of environmental organizations have been pushing for green energy technology, including battery storage facilities, to free the Island of fossil fuels. Storage batteries are considered key because, experts said, they save excess wind and solar power when the sun is not shining and there is little to no wind. According to the International Energy Agency, a huge amount of storage capacity is needed to help the world meet its goals of tripling renewable energy by 2030.

NineDot Energy, a Brooklyn-based developer of such facilities, is proposing a storage unit in Flanders, in Southampton town. The company said the unit would be 5 megawatts. In a recent Zoom call with Southampton town officials, Sam Brill, a company executive, said the town’s proposed rules “would kiss BESS (battery energy storage) developments in Southampton for the foreseeable future.”

Brill asked the town board to carefully consider the impact of its decisions.

The restrictions the town is considering would cap the size of any such facility to 19 megawatts, and any system that is more than 600 kilowatts must be at least 300 feet from a residential property or an occupied community building.

The town’s moratorium on battery storage facilities began in August 2023. Since, Southampton officials say they have been gathering information about the facilities and seeking advice from experts.

A public hearing on the matter has been scheduled for later this spring on whether to extend the moratorium another three months so more information can be obtained.

The technology has faced stiff opposition in a number of Long Island towns, most recently in Oyster Bay. Jupiter Power, a Texas-based company, has proposed such a facility in Glenwood Landing.

Some 300 residents turned out at a hearing in a Sea Cliff church to oppose the project, saying it was unsafe in a residential neighborhood and citing the fires that have occurred elsewhere.

Other Long Island towns, including Hempstead and North Hempstead, have also approved moratoriums on battery storage facilities.