My Turn: Somerville gets it wrong on battery storage

Glenn Carstens-Peters/StockSnap
Published: 06-30-2025 11:24 AM |
In his June 18 column on battery energy storage systems (BESS), Joe Curtatone seeks to establish his community credibility, claiming that he understands local needs since he was mayor of Somerville [“Renewable energy and battery storage is the affordable choice for families. How do we get it right?”]. Unfortunately, the author misses the mark because he doesn’t know western Massachusetts communities and what underlies our concerns about the siting of energy storage systems. Further, some of his claims are inaccurate and insulting to those of us working for the best future for our communities.
It is important at the outset to emphatically acknowledge that we are in a climate crisis and that the concept of storing energy makes sense. Unfortunately, battery storage technology is not ready for prime time since the primary technology uses lithium-ion batteries. In the past few years, I have been amazed to hear energy industry experts publicly acknowledge that lithium-ion batteries catch fire and that they bring environmental risks; these are the people in the industry who are supposed to be promoting batteries. Objective experts also agree on lithium-ion dangers. As recently May, a representative of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the national organization that researches and establishes the national standards and best practices for firefighting and which Mr. Curtatone cites, highlighted the dangers of fires and resulting water contamination at a Franklin Regional Council of Governments presentation. While Mr. Curtatone dismisses the largest U.S. battery fire in 2024 at Moss Landing in California, it is worth noting that the previous year there were two large-scale BESS fires in upstate New York — in the same week at separate locations. Simply put, BESS accidents happen, and the lithium-ion technology is not proven as the author claims. He wants facts; these are facts.
The “Somerville column” also falls short in that he assumes to understand the community characteristics that inform our western Mass. concerns. His city, Somerville, has a municipal water supply unlike the many small rural towns in western Mass. that are served primarily or completely by private drinking wells; no municipal water systems. This is relevant for several reasons. On average, it takes about 6,000 gallons of water to contain a Tesla car fire; an industrial scale BESS fire takes much more. Towns without municipal water have no way to get the volume of water needed to contain a BESS fire.
Further, according to NFPA, it is generally understood that lithium-ion battery fires cannot be extinguished with water; the use of water is only to reduce the heat so the fire doesn’t spread from battery to battery. The acknowledged best practice is to let them burn themselves out; usually over the course of several days (this is what occurred in Moss Landing and upstate New York). This is relevant since many hilltowns have significant forests; Somerville has none. In forested areas lithium-ion battery fires that burn over days can mean forest fires and possibly house fires.
Water contamination is another real risk. When water is applied to a lithium-ion battery fire, the toxic chemicals released through combustion end up going into the ground and eventually into the water. For communities with wells for drinking water (Wendell and Shutesbury) or for larger communities with batteries over aquifers (Orange and Westfield) or those served by a reservoir (Amherst serving UMass), this can be a non-reversable accident. Once contaminated, this damage cannot be undone. It is not sufficient to cite the statistics how unlikely a BESS fire may be; for those communities, one accident would be too many. Where does one turn when the drinking water is contaminated? It is also worth noting that Somerville gets its drinking water from the Quabbin Reservoir, a protected source in western Mass.
Finally, to address the insulting part. Mr. Curtatone has the audacity to claim in print that the people in Westfield, Wendell, Orange, Shutesbury, Amherst and other communities challenging BESS installations are being paid to object to poor siting because of “dark money” and that they are trying to undermine the deployment of clean energy. He denies advocates’ genuine concerns for public safety; this is what drives their actions. Not only is this disrespectful, it is inaccurate, further demonstrating his lack of understanding of our communities.
People in our region are passionate about many things and we don’t always agree, but I would suggest we are all driven by the desire to make our communities better. In my work on this issue over the last few years, I have never seen a hint of a “dark money” or fake community groups trying to subvert the need for renewable energy. The concern is where these installations are sited. If Mr. Curtatone wants to support community leadership based on public benefit and trust, as he claims, he can look to the people who put countless hours into research, civic participation and education to help inform the appropriate siting of these technologies. These people are driven by a passion for a resilient future — they are not paid a dime for these efforts.
Many of us in these communities are working with the state agency to establish safe siting regulations for energy storage as part of the newly established Clean Energy Law. This is the responsible path forward.
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Michael DeChiara is chair of the Shutesbury Energy and Climate Action Committee and a member of the Shutesbury Planning Board.