Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidance regarding battery energy storage system (BESS) safety will soon be introduced on Long Island, according to Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator. This comes in response to the community fighting increased deployment of lithium-ion BESS in densely populated areas throughout New York state, including near their homes and places of business.

Despite concerns raised by borough residents and local officials over the past two years, dozens of BESS sites are under construction on Staten Island.

Some community boards voted against them being sited in proximity to bakeries, while other elected officials issued a moratorium on applications filed within residential districts. Zeldin credits this to the awareness of dangerous lithium battery fires at BESS facilities in other parts of the country that have caused widespread damage, and the resultant fear of New Yorkers that the same could happen in their neighborhoods.          

These BESS sites serve as backup power sources for homes or the grid by using groups of batteries to store electrical energy. Sometimes used in conjunction with renewable energy sources like solar power, they can be a critical resource during power outages or during peak demand.

As storage deployment continues to scale, more communities are asking questions about safety and expressing a “not in my backyard” stance. Zeldin said the states’s Renewable Action through Project Interconnection and Deployment (RAPID) Act and its predecessor, the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act, expanded state power to override local opposition for major renewable projects, including battery storage facilities of 25 megawatts (MW) or larger.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul supports pursuing the goal of adding 6 gigawatts (GW) of battery storage capacity by 2030. The states’s 2025 budget helps accelerate the growth of BESS sites. The RAPID Act is part of the fiscal year 2025 state budget. New York has already connected 6,000 storage projects to its electric grid since 2019, generating about 440 MW of capacity. An additional 1.3 GW is in development.

With more residents and local officials voicing concerns over siting facilities in close proximity to homes and businesses, the EPA plans to release its first comprehensive federal guidance on BESS safety, noting that it is “the only federal agency with standardized procedures for safely deactivating and disposing of lithium batteries after incidents.”

Denis Phares, CEO of Dragonfly Energy, a Reno, Nev.-based innovator in lithium battery technology, said, “The EPA’s new guidance is a welcome step toward national standards for energy storage safety. It highlights the importance of both preparation and response, reinforcing the need for safer systems overall. However, battery energy storage will only reach its potential if people trust it, and that trust depends on advancing chemistries and technologies that make these systems inherently safer.” The company is currently developing domestically produced, nonflammable, all-solid-state batteries using patented technology.