BRAINTREE – A proposal to build lithium-ion battery storage on a Greek Orthodox church property won’t be moving forward after the acting fire chief refused to give his blessing.
Convergent Energy and Power last month submitted a letter to the planning department withdrawing plans to construct four trailer-like structures on a portion of the Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church parking lot on Common Street. The lithium-ion batteries would have a capacity of 5 megawatts and 15 megawatt hours.
Braintree Electric Light Department awarded the bid to New York-based Convergent to own and operate the batteries in an effort for the utility to comply with the state’s clean energy goals. Convergent would have also been required to save BELD, and in turn ratepayers, money.
But Acting Fire Chief Fred Viola remained steadfast in his concern that the project was too close to homes and the church, should an emergency occur.
“Following detailed research, including consultation of industry publications, input from employees, guidance from the Department of Fire Services of Massachusetts, and discussions with municipal fire chiefs in communities managing similar facilities, I have concluded that I cannot support this location for the (battery energy storage system) facility,” Viola wrote in a Dec. 2 letter.
A lithium-ion battery that gets punctured, too hot or short-circuits can lead to an unending reaction called a thermal runaway. These types of fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish and have been known to reignite, despite the amount of water required to put them out. The usual course of action is to wait potentially several hours for the fire to run its course.
Safety officials recommend a minimum one-third mile evacuation radius for hazardous material incidents including lithium-ion battery fires. The project would be 200 feet from the church hall and 159 feet from the closest home.
Viola added that the proposed evacuation routes were “insufficient” and managing an evacuation at this location would “strain resources, potentially hindering an effective response while consuming departmental capacity solely for evacuation management.”
“While I appreciate the effort and thought that the applicants have dedicated to this proposal, I believe this facility would be better suited to a more industrial location in town where the associated risks can be mitigated more effectively,” Viola wrote.
BELD has another lithium-ion battery storage facility on Grove Street, which went online in June 2018.
A BELD official noted in an October planning board meeting that it tried to look for nonresidential locations for the new battery storage site, but they were either too expensive or wouldn’t functionally be feasible. Convergent was going to pay $4,000 to the church to use its excess parking space.
In a Dec. 9 letter to Braintree’s planning director, Convergent noted that it would “conduct a thorough site search to explore potential alternative locations for this project.”
Hannah Morse covers growth and development for The Patriot Ledger. Contact her at hmorse@patriotledger.com.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Plans for lithium-ion battery storage at Braintree church withdrawn