With concern over the safety of lithium-ion batteries growing after three mishaps at energy storage facilities across New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul has launched a working group to inspect such sites and ensure local communities can respond adequately in case of future incidents.
Hochul announced the move after at least three fire or overheating incidents at battery storage sites operated by Convergent Energy & Power LP. The most recent was a fire that erupted July 27 at a Convergent solar-plus-storage facility in Chaumont, NY, near the Canadian border. That followed a June 26 incident in which fire alarms went off at two Convergent battery sites in the Orange County town of Warwick, with one of those facilities experiencing a fire that smoldered for several days.
"Following multiple fire safety incidents across New York, I've directed state agencies to immediately form the Inter-Agency Fire Safety Working Group to mobilize the personnel and resources necessary to keep New Yorkers safe," Hochul said in a press release. "The working group will collaborate with first responders and local leaders to identify best practices, address potential risks to public safety, and ensure energy storage sites across New York are safe and effective."
The company does not yet know the cause of the latest fire, according to a statement from a company representative.
"On Thursday, July 27 at approximately 1:00 p.m. we learned that a battery storage system that Convergent operates, manufactured by General Electric Co. (GE), located at a solar farm in Chaumont, New York, experienced a fire. Members of our engineering team have been on-site and advising first responders," the statement said.
"An investigation has been initiated and a root cause analysis will be performed to identify the causes of this incident," it continued. "While it is too early to report findings, we will provide updates as they become available to the extent possible."
In a June 29 update about the earlier Warwick incidents, the company said the issues at both sites occurred in Centipede modular battery systems manufactured by Powin LLC.
The fires could complicate Hochul's effort to deploy massive amounts of battery storage across New York state as part of an ambitious decarbonization agenda. While the state's 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act set a goal of installing 3 GW of battery storage by 2030, Hochul has called for doubling that figure. To that end, the state Department of Public Service and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) presented an energy storage roadmap in December, laying out possible policy options to meet the expanded target.
While Hochul's office said fires at energy storage locations "exceedingly rare," the governor called on the working group to investigate the recent fires and to examine safety standards to ensure local emergency responders are trained and equipped to handle such incidents.
The working group will be led by NYSERDA alongside the New York Department of State and the state's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services' Office of Fire Prevention and Control.
New York is not the only state wrestling with the issue of battery safety. In California, for example, the Moss Landing battery storage system temporarily shut down after two separate incidents in the past few years. Arizona has seen more than one battery storage fire, with its most recent in 2022. And in Massachusetts, residents raised concerns earlier this year about fire risks at two battery storage systems there.
At the federal level, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the safety of lithium-ion batteries, including residential storage facilities and those used by electric bikes and scooters.
S&P Global Commodity Insights reporter Jason Fargo produces content for distribution on S&P Global Connect. S&P Global Commodity Insights is a division of S&P Global Inc.
S&P Global Commodity Insights produces content for distribution on S&P Capital IQ Pro.
