Lithium battery manufacturing facility. The lithium-ion facility. A “mini-Chernobyl.” Simply among the names the Center Village group has heard referring to the proposed Battery Vitality Storage System (BESS), positioned on 69th Place. After two protests — with a 3rd deliberate on Feb. 26 — and one proposed State invoice trying to supersede Metropolis zoning regulation: your entire Queens group have rallied towards simply one among these services as a consequence of its placement throughout the road from PS 255Q and close by residences for fears of security and well being results from hazardous chemical substances, fires and noise air pollution.
In a joint assertion signed by Council Member Phil Wong, New York Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, state Sen. Joseph Addabbo and Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi mentioned:
“Battery energy storage will play a role in strengthening our electric grid, but the proposed location at 69 Place is simply the wrong fit given its immediate proximity to PS/IS 128, a daycare center, a children’s fun house, an animal hospital, residential homes, and even a District 24 Teachers Center. We are united with the community in opposing this site and support a constructive counterproposal that would relocate the project to a more appropriate industrial area. The goal is to balance the need for reliable energy infrastructure with the responsibility to protect residential neighborhoods and community institutions. There is a clear path forward that allows this project to advance in a more suitable industrial location without compromising the safety and character of the surrounding community.”
However how protected is it? The place are BESS’s being positioned in different communities? And is the danger actually akin to worst nuclear vitality catastrophe in human historical past?
Bottle rockets vs. rocket ships
Throughout his 2025 marketing campaign for Mayor, Curtis Sliwa referred to as the proposed BESS a “mini-Chernobyl” and protested with former Council Member Bob Holden outdoors the positioning in early 2025 with chants of “Save our kids.” Sen. Addabbo launched a brand new invoice that might require BESSs be constructed outdoors of residential areas. In a press launch, Addabbo cited the Moss Touchdown vitality storage facility fireplace and several other that occurred in Warwick, NY, for the group’s security considerations. Movies shared on social media of burning e-bike batteries, additionally utilizing lithium-ion expertise, is one other frequent comparability.
Holden, Councilmember Joann Ariola, Wong, Sliwa and plenty of involved residents got here out to rally towards the proposed facility April 3, 2025.Photograph by Colum Motherway
Nonetheless, there are “key differences” between the batteries that burned in these incidents and people permitted to be used within the Metropolis. Out of the virtually 7,500 BESS within the State, solely three have caught fireplace: a .04% failure fee.
“It’s like comparing a bottle rocket to a spaceship,” mentioned NineDot Vitality VP of Strategic Growth Sam Brill. “Yes, it’s the same chemistry, but the level of engineering and sophistication is so far beyond the basic chemistry of a lithium-ion battery that it’s not a fair comparison.”
Up to now, there has not been a fireplace or security incident at any of the 30 BESSs already working within the Metropolis, together with one in Ozone Park simply 20 toes from a center faculty. At Moss Touchdown, batteries had been densely packed and in touch with one another on “open racks” and never monitored for thermal runaway, or overheating, which triggered the hearth. The repurposed manufacturing facility they had been housed in contributed to the depth of the blaze and quantity of smoke, forcing the evacuation of 1,500 close by residents.
Two days after the hearth, the Environmental Safety Company (EPA) monitored the air high quality for each particulate matter and hydrogen fluoride gasoline and detected “no measurements exceeding the moderate air quality level” that violated of California’s human well being requirements. Monterey County carried out soil and water testing in a ten mile radius and detected no larger presence copper, lithium, manganese or different heavy metals within the soil than discovered typical residential screenings. Lower than 10 of the soil samples detect one heavy metallic: lead, which it isn’t a “key metal” in lithium-ion batteries and “not indicative of fire related impacts,” because it was discovered beneath the floor of the soil.
The Moss Touchdown vitality storage facility fireplace in January, 2025 in Vistra, CACourtesy of the County of Monterey
“[Moss Landing] was the absolute worst case, insane scenario for an energy storage system that never should have been built, never should have been operating and looks nothing like what’s built in New York City,” mentioned Brill. “Even so, officials said there were not impacts that were hazardous to human health.”
The batteries used within the Moss Touchdown and Warwick services will not be permitted to be used throughout the Metropolis, which Brill referred to as “decades old technology.” In response to Metropolis of Warwick officers, the December fireplace at Convergent Vitality’s 28 Church St. facility was contained to a single cell and didn’t unfold to different batteries. The engineer advisor employed by town, LaBella, discovered 1.5 elements per million (ppm) of the poisonous gasoline hydrogen cyanide within the air, which didn’t exceed any ranges deemed hazardous.
The Convergent Vitality and Energy facility fireplace in December, 2025Courtesy of the City of Warwick
On Jan. 20, the ability’s landlord, Warwick BBA, despatched a letter to Convergent Vitality alleging violations of constructing code and allowing of native, county and/or state regulation.
“Even in cases where air monitoring did not exceed federal thresholds, we’ve seen evacuations, public health advisories, and measurable toxic gas detection during fire events,” Addabbo mentioned. “The disruption to communities, particularly when children are involved, is significant.”
An outside BESS, just like the one being proposed by NineDot, has batteries sealed in water-proof, fire-proof and noise dampening containers, as required by FDNY. Vitality storage services within the metropolis make the most of a system that routinely shuts off any cell that’s overheating. What seem like common delivery containers maintain off-gassing programs, spark plugs, overhead water spray, 24-7 thermal cameras and layers of guide shutoffs.
One of many containers used for a NineDot BESS
All native firehouses are educated previous to the mission changing into operational and due not require evacuation, because the containers are designed to resist the hearth and cease the unfold. Although the group fears the “let it burnt out” method, it was by design to be most secure for first responders.
‘A good neighbor?’
Addabbo’s invoice would mandate all 3+ MW BESS’s within the Metropolis be positioned a minimum of 300 toes away from properties, faculties and farms and embody monetary surety necessities, comparable to insurance coverage or allotted emergency funds ought to a fireplace happen.
In response to the Pure Assets Protection Council (NRDC), Environmental Advocates NY, WeAct and a dozen different environmental advocacy teams the 300 ft stipulation “would prevent nearly all BESS from being built in New York City,” by disqualifying over 90% of areas throughout the Metropolis and hindering the flexibility to construct the required 4,000 services citywide.
“This bill overrides the expertise of local zoning and fire safety experts. At present, BESS siting is governed by local zoning, as well as either the NYS or NYC Fire Code. This bill would discard the years-long efforts of fire safety professionals and the policy decisions of local zoning authorities – in favor of arbitrary setback requirements,” as acknowledged in an open letter of opposition filed earlier this week.
“While battery energy storage plays a role in our state’s clean energy future and we are in need for more electrical power, public safety must always come first,” mentioned Addabbo. “When a large-scale lithium facility is proposed directly across from a school, we must rethink the placement of these facilities and work towards placing them away from schools and residences.”
Nonetheless, one faculty within the Bronx was blissful to have the brand new facility throughout the road, even designing a mural to be painted on the fence.
The mural designed by college students of the Bronx Constitution Colleges for Higher LearningCourtesy of NineDot Vitality
Shubert Jacobs, government director of Bronx Constitution Colleges for Higher Studying positioned at 3740 Baychester Ave., is straight throughout the road from a NineDot BESS. Jacobs contacted NineDot after seeing the mission in development and developed an “unusual collaboration” between the corporate and college. Since being constructed a number of years in the past, NineDot’s staff have attended enrichment applications, participated in group occasions and frequently informs the varsity of operations on the positioning, in keeping with Jacobs.
NineDot linked the varsity with Photo voltaic One, an academic non-profit, who taught seminars on renewable vitality and hydroponics, and supplied a full academic tour of the ability. College students are actually within the technique of designing a mosaic of the varsity’s emblem to affix the mural on the fence.
“They brought something to the community and then they actually shared it in such a way that the school could actually benefit from it. Because it’s not just benefited us from the standpoint of just talking about clean energy. It benefited us from the standpoint of projects that kids did and parents were happy to come out to actually be a part of the mural,” Jacobs mentioned.
Jacobs was shocked to listen to concerning the group and legislative backlash in direction of the ability, and acknowledged no member of the 700 households whose kids attend both the elementary or center faculty expressed considerations about fires or security to him straight.
Center Village Residents Affiliation President Paul Pogozelski, who organized the newest protest, cited the identical considerations dad and mom delivered to Addabbo, Wong and different electeds. Pogozelski can also be involved for noise air pollution and observed a definite buzzing sound coming from the BESS positioned on Rust Sreet in Maspeth. Pogozelski met with Brill and NineDot final yr, however requested a public assembly he mentioned could be extra helpful for transparency, denying a second assembly in non-public.
“Why not put together a [public] meeting where you’re willing to make sure that there’s assurances in place by a civic leader or whoever to actually get this point across and get it to a broader base of people,” Pogozelski mentioned. “There’s a way to have these meetings where it doesn’t have to be a confrontational back and forth. They could do a better job… being more transparent, meeting with the public.”
A NineDot consultant acknowledged {that a} public assembly wouldn’t be “productive,” and continued to achieve out for on-on-one classes. Brill has since met a number of dad and mom from PS 255Q nearly and knocked on doorways of the close by homes, however each the varsity precept and Center Village Father or mother Instructor Affiliation have but to make contact. Nonetheless, a consultant acknowledged that they reply to each message through the web site contact type and extra data may be discovered on its FAQ web page.
Wong and the opposite native representatives are nonetheless working to discover a new location for the BESS. Regardless of fears of noise air pollution and unsafe supplies in Center Village, Shubert mentioned there hasn’t been any complaints from dad and mom or a lot exercise from over the fence, and acknowledged that there isn’t any persistent sound or noisy operations that interrupted life throughout the routine upkeep journeys. The Bronx is historically underserved in vitality wants and has the best charges of childhood bronchial asthma and different respiratory sicknesses as a consequence of air pollution, which Jacobs mentioned was a consider welcoming the BESS, however that it was primarily because of the direct communication with NineDot.
“We have found this to be such a great partnership; aligned around science, community and care for the environment,” Jacobs mentioned. “They are about working with kids, working with the school, engaging us in what they are actually doing. So I really cannot think of a better neighbor to have. If you’re going to have a good neighbor and a company that collaborates with you, I think NineDot would be among the top.”
Con Edison doing its ‘BESSt’
New York’s grid has seen higher days. In response to Brill, the ability of the scale proposed would alleviate the specter of blackouts in a ten block radius round it. Con Edison has proposed a substitute for BESS’s all through town: a model new distribution substation and changing miles of underground cables with higher-voltage variations.
A multi-billion-dollar mission that fee payers would subsidize.
“It is a dramatically more cost efficient way to build out that infrastructure. We’ve calculated that on a per megawatt basis, it is about 2.5x more cost efficient to do an energy storage project than the traditional grid infrastructure that Con Edison builds,” Brill mentioned, noting NineDot’s initiatives are privately funded. “That should lead to people’s rates going down, because instead of this really expensive infrastructure, we can build more energy storage and it won’t cost rate payers anything.”
The location of NineDot’s proposed BESS on 69th Pl.Photograph by Patrick Stachniak
Con Edison, New York’s largest non-public grid operator, acknowledged “battery storage is an essential part of our clean-energy future.” New York State’s Local weather Act mandates that 6,000 MW of battery vitality storage be constructed by 2030, and a pair of/3’s will must be constructed within the Metropolis. The Center Village BESS has a 4 MW capability, and the state is already 1,000 MW behind its newest benchmark.
Queens residents expertise extra blackouts and brownouts than every other borough, growing in frequency throughout winter, and one which left over 1,000 folks with out energy for days and unable to chill their properties in 2025 summer season warmth wave. At evening, the batteries get charged and throughout the day, throughout peak hours of electrical energy use, the vitality is launched again onto the grid to alleviate the load. The additional vitality saved within the BESS is simply deployed at Con Edison’s request, however retains the ability on throughout peak demand.
Photograph by Patrick Stachniak
With out BESS’s, vitality drawn from renewables may be wasted and can’t be deployed deliberately throughout peak hours. At present, town makes use of fossil gas powered “peaker plants” throughout peak hour overload. The Local weather Act limits nitrogen oxide from peaker crops as a consequence of its hyperlink to larger respiratory and cardiovascular sickness charges, and plenty of have already been decommissioned. Each single peaker plant is required by regulation to stop operation by 2030, leaving a excessive threat of an vitality deficit throughout peak hours.
“Why aren’t we hearing more people be concerned about a combustible fuel sitting in the middle of our city, but they’re worried about small battery storage facilities that can help facilitate solar energy development?” requested Kim Frakzek, director of the non-profit The Sane Vitality Mission. “There are gas leaks everywhere. The fact that we even have ads in the subway, “Smell gas, Act fast,” simply reveals you will have one thing actually harmful that’s working beneath our streets and into our properties. And these items run, not even simply straight previous faculties, however into faculties. That must be stuff that we must be alarmed about.”
In 2018, NYC skilled over 22,000 unconbusted gasoline leaks, costing round $70 million yearly for first responders to repair. The Metropolis had greater than the following 25 on the record mixed. An explosion final yr on the NYCHA Mitchell Homes within the Bronx killed 1 and injured 14 others after sparking a four-alarm fireplace and collapsing a piece of the constructing. A research by the College of Michigan on the rise of gasoline leaks urged lawmakers and decision-makers “to incorporate these costs into cost-benefit analyses and consider the intended and unintended effects on emergency response systems in managing energy transitions.”
The results of a gasoline explosion on the Mitchell Homes within the Bronx. The particles fell from a air flow shaft resulting in the constructing’s boiler.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Regardless of the protests and controversy, a consultant of NineDot acknowledged, “We’re, we are working with those elected officials to get to an outcome where there is clean, reliable, affordable, safe energy in Middle Village.”
