Fire suppression chemicals linked to toxic groundwater at East Hampton battery plant
May 2023Published 11 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Cove Hollow Road, East Hampton, New York
- Operator
- NextEra Energy and National Grid
- What
- Fire at battery energy storage plant on 31 May 2023
- Response
- Firefighters fought blaze for about 30 hours
- Cause
- Not reported
Get the next one by email
Free alerts on battery storage incidents in the United States, and an email when EIR-0643 is updated. No account needed; unsubscribe in one click.
Confirm your email and every battery storage incident on the register arrives at once as a spreadsheet (CSV), free.
Get a free sample brief Three complete verified records and the incidents-per-GW table, by email within a minute.
We will also email you about the register's paid records and plans, at most once a week and three times in all. You can stop these at any time. By signing up you agree to the privacy policy.
Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): National Grid, NextEra Energy
What happened
A fire broke out on 31 May 2023 at a battery energy storage plant on Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton, New York, described by the source as owned by NextEra Energy and National Grid. Firefighters fought the blaze for about 30 hours. Around 5,000 pounds of NOVEC 1230 fire-suppression gas were used in combination with an internal sprinkler system, alongside more than 1.4 million to 2.2 million gallons of water.
New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation has preliminarily found that the combination of the suppression gas and the water produced the forever chemical PFPrA, measured at up to 10,000 parts per billion in groundwater just south of the plant, against a state health screening level of 3 parts per billion. Four Suffolk County Water Authority wells about 2,500 feet away were affected; the authority stopped using them and has sued the plant owners.
Tests so far have not shown the plume affecting 27 private drinking water wells in the area. A final DEC report is expected in the autumn of 2026.
Contributing factors
Preliminary DEC findings attribute the groundwater contamination primarily to the interaction of the NOVEC 1230 fire-suppression gas with the large volumes of firefighting water, rather than to the lithium-ion batteries themselves. The DEC said only 0.04 per cent of the batteries at the plant burned and that soil tests found no traces of heavy metals. The DEC commissioner said the 3M-made suppression system has since been discontinued, and that the state confirmed it was not used at other plants in New York that experienced fires. The exact cause of the thermal runaway fire has not been released.
Lessons learned
- NOVEC 1230 fire-suppression gas combined with firefighting water at a BESS site can form PFPrA at 10,000 parts per billion, so operators should test suppression chemistry for persistent environmental byproducts before use.
- Only 0.04 per cent of batteries burned at this modular containerised site, so insurers should verify that design limits fire spread compared with enclosed buildings.
- Four water wells 2,500 feet from the plant were taken out of service after PFPrA detection, so operators must agree groundwater testing protocols with regulators in advance.
More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, spacing, layout and fire spread, detection and monitoring, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Exact cause of the thermal runaway fire
- Battery model and age
- Cost of the contamination and lawsuit
- Duration of plant downtime
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Site page: East Hampton Energy Storage Center (status, dates and other incidents)
Published 2026-09-11. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
