Cities fight plans for large battery energy storage systems over fears they will go up in flames

But with the addition of more energy storage, the population in some places is retreating due to fears that systems will rise in fire, such as A huge facility in California I did earlier this year.

Supporters confirm that modern battery energy storage systems are safe, but more sites prevent stops.

“We are not Guinea pigs for anyone … we will not try, we will not risk,” said Michael McGation, the mayor of Island Park, New York, who passed a stop in July after a storage system near the village line.

At least a few dozen regions across the United States have moved to prevent the development of large battery systems temporarily in recent years.

Long Island, where the power network can get a boost in the next few years with marine wind farms on the Internet, was a focus of activity, until she recently drew attention from the Trump administration. The opponents there obtained a batch in August when the director of the Environmental Protection Agency visited Lee Zilden New York to complain that the state was accelerating approvals on the sites in order to achieve the goals of the “fake” green authority – which is rejected by state officials.

Battery growth mutation

The battery power storage systems that absorb cheap energy during the periods of low demand, then embody it in a profit during the high demand periods, are very important with the rise in intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar energy.

Bess -known systems can make networks make more reliable networks and be credited with reducing power outages. The large battery system may consist of rows of charging containers in a lot of fence, with containers that contain hundreds of thousands of cells.

China and the United States are leading the world in adding battery storage systems quickly. However, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Australia, the Netherlands, Chile, Canada and the United Kingdom have been assigned or started building on large projects since 2024, as well, according to a research from Bloombergnef.

In the United States, California and Texas were a pioneer in storing battery. But other countries are moving quickly, often with systems developed from the private sector. Although the Trump administration was unnecessary or even anti -renewable energy, the main tax credit for energy storage projects was retained in the recently approved federal budget for qualified projects that begin to build in the next eight years.

The developers added 4,908 megawatts of battery storage capacity in the second quarter of 2025, where Arizona, California and Tixas represented about three quarters of that new capacity, according to a report issued by the American Clean Energy Group, an industrial group. This is enough to run approximately 1.7 million families.

New York has an ambitious goal to add 6000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030, half of which are large -scale systems.

Fear the Lithium ion fire

Opposition of storage systems usually focuses on the possibility of thermal escape, and the react of the uncontrolled heating chain that can lead to a fire or explosion. Opponents refer to the previous fires and ask: What if this happens in my neighborhood?

A Battery storage system In Moss Landing, California was caught fire in January, when poisonous smoke columns were sent to the air and forced to evacuate about 1500 people.

Experts in this field say that battery systems have become safer over the years. Your party, Ezeki, a combustion expert and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas in Austin, notes that failure is relatively rare, but also there is no 100 % guaranteed engineering system.

Ezeki said: “This is a relatively immature technique that ripens quickly, so I think there are many studied researchers and other stakeholders who are trying to improve the comprehensive safety of these systems.”

Battery storage supporters say that a facility like Moss Landing, where the batteries are stored inside, will not be allowed in New York, which adopted extinguishing codes that require a normative container design with the minimum required to divert to prevent fires.

Batter Battery Systems

People who live near the proposed sites are not always guaranteed.

In Washington, a city Valley of the Makib “He agreed to the endowment for six months in July as a means” to protect us until we know more. ”

Haltement voters, Kansas, who has a stop, will be asked for this if they want to ban the largest battery storage systems within the city’s borders, according to Mayor Dennis Travis. He hopes that the city will be able to host a safe storage system, and said that local opponents are wrongly focusing on the California fire.

The number of sites that pass through the specifications began to rise in the years 2023 and 2024, which reflects the trends in spreading the storage of batteries, with a noticeable group in New York, according to a presentation of a presentation by the northwest of the Pacific Laboratory.

Winnie Sukolovsky is among the residents of the region against the proposal 250 MW Lithium Eyon The storage system in the town of Olster, New York, is competing as very close to schools and homes.

“They are suffering from nothing, but I don’t think you can put it where they suggest and assume that something will happen,” said Sokolovsky. “It is risky if so.”

The developer, Terra Jin, said that the design will prevent fire from spreading and that the regime “does not pose any reliable scientific threat to neighbors, audiences or environment.”

Doreen Harris, head of the Energy Research and Development Authority in New York State, said she is confident that the state has the right safety rules, and that increasing the use of batteries storage systems “will lead to” strengthening and updating our network. “

She indicated that there were also local concerns in the early stages of determining the location of the solar farms, which since then demonstrated its benefits.