Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa has made railing in opposition to battery power storage techniques a key a part of his marketing campaign.
He rallied with residents of Hollis, Queens, Marine Park, Brooklyn and Eastchester, The Bronx to oppose proposed battery tasks of their neighborhoods. On Monday night, he traveled to the Staten Island neighborhood of Travis to have a good time the cancellation of a battery storage challenge alongside Victory Boulevard.
Sliwa spoke in opposition to battery storage earlier than casting his poll on the first day of early voting Saturday and in each mayoral debates, warning {that a} fireplace or an explosion of such a system could possibly be “like mini Chernobyl.”
Batteries that retailer power are a key a part of New York Metropolis’s technique to turn into extra resilient, minimize air air pollution and transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. However they’ve additionally turn into a supply of concern in some residential neighborhoods which can be slated to obtain them, with locals pointing to battery storage fires in New York State and California.
Throughout a greater than three-hour oversight listening to earlier than the Metropolis Council Committee on Fireplace and Emergency Administration, Councilmember Joann Ariola (R-Queens), the committee chair, argued that the batteries ought to be situated in industrial areas, not residential neighborhoods. Fireplace Division officers, in the meantime, made the case as to how they had been minimizing the danger of the battery storage techniques and why they might profit communities.
“We on the FDNY characterize a multi-step security gateway, making certain a high-level protecting efficiency of a battery power storage system put in at any location,” stated Thomas Currao, chief of fireside prevention. “There are a lot of safeguards, fireplace prevention and risk-mitigation measures.”
Requested for remark, Sliwa underscored his report of standing “with numerous communities to cease these websites,” and promised to “maintain combating to guard New Yorkers from this reckless agenda.”
Batteries pose a hearth danger however are topic to rigorous security checks and requirements on the level of producing and earlier than and after set up.
Not like most of the lithium-ion e-bike batteries which have resulted in lethal fires all through the boroughs, the batteries in power storage techniques are made to security specs by the UL Requirements & Engagement, the product testing and security firm.
The Fireplace Division additionally mandates that battery techniques adhere to stringent native testing and security necessities earlier than builders can set up them. The techniques will need to have distant monitoring capacities, air flow and fire-extinguishing and fire-suppression techniques, amongst different parts.
Even after set up, FDNY performs common inspections.
Battery storage techniques assist stabilize the electrical grid, storing energy when there’s low demand and discharging it in instances of excessive demand. General, there are about 91 megawatts of battery storage throughout 80 tasks within the 5 boroughs, in keeping with state knowledge by August. Most are on non-public property.
Part of Mayor Eric Adams’ citywide zoning replace, Metropolis of Sure for Carbon Neutrality, made it simpler to put in battery storage techniques in residential areas. Sliwa has stated battery storage ought to be constructed solely in industrial areas, some extent that Ariola, a staunch Sliwa supporter, underscored throughout the listening to.
“Why are you focusing on residential communities?” Ariola requested at one level.
Kathleen Schmid, deputy govt director on the Mayor’s Workplace of Local weather and Environmental Justice, touted the optimistic results of battery storage techniques: that they will forestall energy outages and assist decrease utility payments as a result of clients gained’t pay for energy when it’s most costly.
“They’ll present these advantages extra instantly and extra successfully the nearer they’re to a neighborhood, so placing these battery power storage techniques into neighborhoods can get the advantages nearer to those that can use them,” she stated.
Battery storage can provide extra dependable energy and help clear power. Paired with renewable sources like photo voltaic, as an illustration, batteries can present power even when the solar doesn’t shine.
And battery techniques can assist keep away from reliance on gas-fired peaker vegetation, which activate throughout instances of excessive power demand, polluting the neighborhoods during which they’re situated. Utilities pay for the power from peaker vegetation to be out there, whether or not or not it’s really used.
“Each time these peaker vegetation click on on, nitrous oxide, sulfur oxide, PM 2.5 will get belched into the air. These are brokers that trigger bronchial asthma,” stated former Council environmental committee chair Costa Constantinides, now CEO of the Selection Boys and Ladies Membership of Queens.
Constantinides added that native battery storage tasks, regardless of the dangers, provide “good tradeoffs for our neighborhoods.”
Jasmine Lawrence, a home-owner in St. Albans, Queens, said her opposition to a battery storage system deliberate close to her residence.
“They are saying these battery farms are protected, however protected for the way lengthy?” she stated.
Requested if he would really feel comfy dwelling subsequent to a battery storage system, Fireplace Division Deputy Chief Joe Loftus, who oversees hazardous supplies, stated he would.
“As for security causes, sure, I might be very assured within the Fireplace Division, the expertise that’s allowed in there, what tech administration does and our response,” he stated. “Sure, I might be assured that the Fireplace Division might deal with a state of affairs or an emergency or a hearth.”
