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- May 10, 2019
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- 432
This is a Citywide issue because these facilities are being placed in all five boroughs.
I am by no means an expert but the following are some thoughts about operational issues for the FDNY if one of these Lithium Ion Battery installations caught fire.
There has been alot of coverage in the news over the last year or so about Con Edison's use of Lithium Energy Battery installations throughtout NYC to store excess electricity generated during periuods of low demand and then feeding the power back into the grid during periods of peak demand. This seems to be largely a stop gap measure while demand increases due to electric vehicles and other measures designed to reduce emission of greenhouse gasses. Non carbon based supply increases from solar and wind sources is expected to lag behind demand because most of the new energy from these sources is produced in the Midwest and Northern states while increased demand occurs on the East coast. On Staten Island most of the news coverage has been about the siting of these facilities in residential areas but that coverage doesn't seem to have affected plans to implement these sites. According to the SI Advance, one site is operational in the Stapleton area and one is near completion on the South Shore at Hylan Blvd and Littlefield Ave. Construction of several other sites on Staten Island has also commenced.
The site at Littlefield Ave. and Hylan Blvd is very close to where I live so I have been observing the construction of the facility. Below is a picture of the site. The site is approximately 100 feet by 50 feet and bounded by concrete highway barriers and a gravel flooring. There is a mesh fence on top of the concrete barriers. There are numerous warning signs, emergency shutoffs, and a manual deluge sprinkler system. Originally there were only two siamese inlets but as of today there are now 6 siamese inlets, three on each side. Thus a total of 3,000 gpm can be pumped through the sprinkler system to drown the lithium ion battery cells in the event of a fire. A first operational issue would be that the batteries are located in what appear to be white metal cases. Unless the fire breaches the casing how would the sprinkler system reach the seat of the fire ? The FD might have to manually breach the cases so that the sprinkler system and perhaps a Satellite Angus canon could apply water to the battery cells. This would be a very risky operation. Another is the potential for toxic fumes. In Warwick NY over the summer one of these sites experienced a fire. The local FD let the fire burn itself out believing, contrary to FDNY policy, that water would not extinguish the fire. News reports indicated that residents complained about the presence of toxic fumes which would also of course impact any FDNY members at the scene not wearing full protective gear .Perhaps a CPC vehicle would also need to respond to a fire scene. The wire mesh fencing that encloses most of the site might also present an operational problem not allowing direct application of master streams to the seat of the fire unless the fencing was breachwed by either the fire or FD actions.
I am by no means an expert but the following are some thoughts about operational issues for the FDNY if one of these Lithium Ion Battery installations caught fire.
There has been alot of coverage in the news over the last year or so about Con Edison's use of Lithium Energy Battery installations throughtout NYC to store excess electricity generated during periuods of low demand and then feeding the power back into the grid during periods of peak demand. This seems to be largely a stop gap measure while demand increases due to electric vehicles and other measures designed to reduce emission of greenhouse gasses. Non carbon based supply increases from solar and wind sources is expected to lag behind demand because most of the new energy from these sources is produced in the Midwest and Northern states while increased demand occurs on the East coast. On Staten Island most of the news coverage has been about the siting of these facilities in residential areas but that coverage doesn't seem to have affected plans to implement these sites. According to the SI Advance, one site is operational in the Stapleton area and one is near completion on the South Shore at Hylan Blvd and Littlefield Ave. Construction of several other sites on Staten Island has also commenced.
The site at Littlefield Ave. and Hylan Blvd is very close to where I live so I have been observing the construction of the facility. Below is a picture of the site. The site is approximately 100 feet by 50 feet and bounded by concrete highway barriers and a gravel flooring. There is a mesh fence on top of the concrete barriers. There are numerous warning signs, emergency shutoffs, and a manual deluge sprinkler system. Originally there were only two siamese inlets but as of today there are now 6 siamese inlets, three on each side. Thus a total of 3,000 gpm can be pumped through the sprinkler system to drown the lithium ion battery cells in the event of a fire. A first operational issue would be that the batteries are located in what appear to be white metal cases. Unless the fire breaches the casing how would the sprinkler system reach the seat of the fire ? The FD might have to manually breach the cases so that the sprinkler system and perhaps a Satellite Angus canon could apply water to the battery cells. This would be a very risky operation. Another is the potential for toxic fumes. In Warwick NY over the summer one of these sites experienced a fire. The local FD let the fire burn itself out believing, contrary to FDNY policy, that water would not extinguish the fire. News reports indicated that residents complained about the presence of toxic fumes which would also of course impact any FDNY members at the scene not wearing full protective gear .Perhaps a CPC vehicle would also need to respond to a fire scene. The wire mesh fencing that encloses most of the site might also present an operational problem not allowing direct application of master streams to the seat of the fire unless the fencing was breachwed by either the fire or FD actions.
