Tensions were high at a Thursday community board meeting in Marine Park, as residents voiced their concerns about a battery storage facility that is planned to be built in the neighborhood.
NineDot Energy, an energy storage company that currently operates a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in the Bronx, plans for a new facility at 2138-52 Flatbush Ave. in Marine Park.
The proposed BESS, or a rechargeable battery system that stores energy from the grid to distribute at a later time, would be a 14-megawatt system built with Tesla Spuercharger battery packs. Sam Brill, the president of Strategic Development at NineDot, said the facility is “a critical pathway to getting off fossil fuels.”
NineDot is building a BESS in Marine Park because it was identified by ConEdison as an area that suffers from brownouts and blackouts, Brill said. The facility would also have solar panels, which would power it in part.
The facility is not financed by state dollars, although Brill said the state does give NineDot a sales tax exemption for the project.
Claudia Greco, a Marine Park resident whose property abuts the location of the proposed BESS, said she was particularly concerned about a possible fire. The FDNY "has no way to put out a chemical fire, which is going to happen," she said at the meeting, which was also attended by Council Member Mercedes Narcisse and Assembly Member Jaime Williams.
Greco was referencing the possibility of the lithium-ion batteries, which fill the Tesla Supercharger packs, catching on fire.
Attendees shouted out the locations of various fires at other lithium-ion battery storage facilities across the country, including the fire in Moss Landing, Caliif. and in Warwick, N.Y.
Brill tried to reassure the residents, noting the different battery technology NineDot uses and that the company follows all FDNY protocols and city laws. The facility will also be equipped with a sprinkler system, said Brill and Anthony Santamaria, NineDot's president of construction.
One person shouted “Marine Park would be like Chernobyl.” Emotions ran high during the meeting and residents routinely interrupted speakers shouting their concerns.
FDNY Captain Matt Quinn and Chief of Fire Prevention Thomas Currao were also at the meeting to explain what would happen in the event of a fire.
“You just put a lot of water on it,” Quinn said.
If there is a fire, the goal for the FDNY is to prevent the fire from spreading from one part of the battery to the next, a process called “thermal runaway," Quinn said. If there's an issue with one of the batteries, there's an alert system that will notify NineDot right away, he added.
In an effort to compromise with NineDot, some residents at the meeting proposed moving the storage facility to a different area, including the former Toys R' Us at 2875 Flatbush Ave. or Floyd Bennett Field.
Santamaria pushed back on these proposals, however, telling BK Reader the two sites were "not feasible" as they are both in a flood zone and because the system would need to be elevated.
John Faciano, who came to the meeting with little knowledge of the project, said he came away feeling that NineDot could come up with the funds to move the facility.
“The community is clearly against the location,” Faciano added. “The idea of community involves compromise, and I don't think the community feels that NineDot has been transparent and is willing to compromise.”
