East Hampton was rocked by an explosion on May 31st that resulted in the destruction of its Lithium Ion Storage Battery. The battery’s function is to store excess power produced in the area, in the event service disruptions occur. This explosion is a $55 million setback to the town and costs 5,000 homeowners power in the event service is cut. This is especially devastating as the Summer months typically see transformer and grid failures due to the stress put on them by homes and businesses using air conditioning units on top of regular electric usage.
NextEra Energy Resources and the Town of East Hampton share ownership of the battery system. The importance of life and environment in East Hampton was emphasized by Mike Mazur, Spokesperson for NextEra Energy Resources. “There are no safety or power concerns for local residents as a result of the facility being out of service. The safety of our employees and the communities that we serve is the foundation of our projects. It’s important to note that the water-based fire suppression systems operated as designed and quickly contained the fire to the site. No further emergency response was required.”
This raises concerns as to the reliability of the State and Long Island Power Authorities’(LIPA) plan to build battery storage facilities around Suffolk County. Safety is also a concern after similar incidents occurred across the country, most notably in Arizona where several first responders were seriously injured by a “thermal runaway event.” LIPA states that with all energy producing and storing techniques comes inherent risk. “All technologies, including conventional fossil-generation, have certain risks and the potential for outages. Part of system planning is designing a system that when an issue like this occurs, we can still reliably serve customers.” LIPA and New York State have confirmed that the repairs for the battery facility will not fall on the taxpayer, rather the State and LIPA.
Anthony Natale is the Director of Risk and Response for Fire & Risk Alliance LLC, where he specializes in lithium ion storage units. When asked about the dangers of these facilities breaking down he said, “These systems are safer. Stationery storage system designs now require explosion control measures such as NFPA 68 deflagration panels that will safely lift from the roof to release any overpressure contours within the container or NFPA 69 which purge flammable vapors so that any accumulation of gas within the container does not reach the explosive level. These systems are also outfitted with Hydrogen detection so the level of flammable gas can be determined remotely without having to place responders in harm's way, unlike the investigation of natural gas leaks by the fire services.”
 |
| East Hampton Battery storage units. National Grid |