Marine Park residents concern two deliberate battery-storage amenities might flip their neighborhood right into a “miniature Chernobyl” — with the potential for poisonous chemical leaks and main hearth hazards.
NineDot Vitality, a green-energy storage firm, is making ready to open the Battery Vitality Storage Methods on Flatbush Avenue on both facet of Quentin Highway, one among which butts up in opposition to a number of residential properties and shares its partitions with two companies.
The incoming 14-megawatt techniques shall be constructed with Tesla Megapacks, that are large-scale rechargeable lithium-ion battery storage merchandise with a historical past of catching on hearth.
“If their system fails or glitches, if one battery ignites, that’s it,” Claudia Greco informed The Put up, including that her property is just separated from the ability by a skinny fence the “width of my hand.”
“You can not put out a chemical hearth with water. How are you going to evacuate if my home is already on hearth and I have already got poisonous chemical compounds destroying not solely my home, however my total neighborhood?”
Hydrogen fluoride, hydrochloric acid, carbon monoxide, lithium particulate matter and PCBs are simply a few of the poisonous chemical compounds Greco is anxious will infiltrate the world within the occasion of a leak, remodeling the luxurious, however densely packed Brooklyn neighborhood right into a ticking-time bomb.
“It’s like a miniature Chernobyl with out radiation,” mentioned Greco’s husband, Ed Rohrlich.
Brooklyn’s Neighborhood Board 18 held a particular city corridor final week after studying in regards to the incoming NineDot facility, with firm representatives seeking to guarantee locals they’d nothing to concern.
“The battery storage techniques we construct are secure. We wouldn’t construct them in any other case,” mentioned Karen Alter, NineDot’s Chief Advertising and marketing Officer, including that the FDNY has “strict oversight over our improvement.”
The Brooklyn-based firm mentioned the positioning would home “community-scale” battery storage techniques, that means they’re greater than at-home batteries, however smaller than “utility-scale” websites.
The Flatbush Avenue buildings had been recognized as ultimate places due to their potential to connect with the ConEd grid, and a NineDot consultant harassed that the density of the busy industrial and residential blocks performed no function within the facility’s location.
“We expect it’s no coincidence that there have been no security incidents involving power storage in NYC, regardless of a number of initiatives of varied sizes being operational.” she continued, including that the notion of poisonous gases posing a difficulty is “merely false.”
“The State Inter-Company Hearth Security Working Group studied air high quality and floor water following security incidents at power storage websites exterior NYC, and located completely no ranges of hazardous supplies harmful to neighbors,” Alter mentioned.
However Alter’s claims have finished little to quell involved residents, who pointed to earlier Tesla Megapack infernos — like one which raged for 2 days in January in Moss Touchdown, California, forcing the evacuation of 1,2000 folks.
After the fireplace, consultants discovered that ranges of nickel, manganese, and cobalt had jumped a whole lot to 1,000 occasions increased than earlier than the fireplace, together with a number of miles away at a neighboring wildlife refuge, KQED reported. Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed his megapacks had nothing to do with the fireplace.
CB 18 member Rob Mazzuchin questioned what the results could be for the densely populated Marine Park
“If this factor goes on hearth, there’s a 3-to-4-mile evacuation radius. If you’re in Suffolk County and also you’re evacuating 400 properties, that’s one factor. In case you ever need to evacuate Brooklyn round this due to poisonous fumes — simply assume how far 4 miles goes,” Mazzuchin, 54, a life-long Marine Park resident.
“You’re at 86th Avenue in Bensonhurst. You’re at Church Avenue on Flatbush Avenue. You’re out on the [Marine Park] golf course, and then you definitely’re out at Bergen Seaside.”
Some locals instructed NineDot transfer away from the residential hub — additional down Flatbush Avenue, close to Kings Plaza Mall, lies a formerToys R Us that has been deserted for years. However the website is unsuitable, Alter defined, as a result of it’s in a flood plain and might’t connect with the ConEd grid.
The power firm’s undertaking is as-of-right, that means it’s an appropriate use below present zoning for the world. NineDot did maintain a group “meet-and-greet” and has promised to additional educate the neighborhood on the undertaking.
Metropolis Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse informed The Put up that she is anxious in regards to the “severe security and environmental considerations” of lithium battery storage and is exploring all doable avenues to place the brakes on the undertaking and probably have it moved to a extra appropriate location.
Neighbors are additionally contemplating bringing a lawsuit to cease the undertaking.
“It’s only a nice group and proper now the residents are feeling the concern of ‘if one thing occurs,’” mentioned Rob Tracey, former president of the Marine Park Alliance.
“We put smoke detectors in our home as a result of we need to defend ourselves. However there’s sure issues we are able to’t defend ourselves from. If one thing occurs to that plant, there isn’t a option to extinguish it or defend us as residents within the neighborhood, and it might be a life-long occasion that would change the group without end.”
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