Overview

• The EPA’s new guidelines outline best practices for installation, permitting, incident response and fire planning at battery storage facilities.
• Administrator Lee Zeldin portrayed the guidance as a tool for communities to influence siting decisions over fire, toxic emission and cleanup dangers.
• State officials, including Gov. Hochul’s communications adviser and former FDNY leaders, said New York’s regulations already safeguard communities and cautioned that federal guidance could slow the state’s clean-energy expansion.
• A six-year audit by Clean Energy Associates found more than 25% of surveyed BESS sites had issues with fire detection and suppression, highlighting operational vulnerabilities.
• Residents near planned facilities in Hauppauge, Brooklyn and other locales have protested over fears of hydrogen fluoride emissions, water contamination and a lack of specialized firefighting resources.