National Grid division pulls plans for half-dozen battery storage plants on Long Island

National Grid Ventures, co-owner of Long Island’s first two battery storage plants, has withdrawn plans for a half-dozen other plants across the region, even as it works with partner NextEra Energy Resources to overhaul a plant in Montauk that’s offline.

National Grid Ventures, a division of London-based National Grid whose U.S. operation owns a fleet of Long Island power plants and the regional natural gas system, had been listed in a state grid-connection database as proposing battery plants in West Babylon, Southampton, Far Rockaway, Port Jefferson, Wading River and Glenwood Landing.

Together the projects represented hundreds of megawatts of potential energy storage, some using space at power stations National Grid owns from its acquisition of KeySpan in 2007. (The plants were previously owned by the former LILCO.)

Newsday has reported that New York Independent System Operator, which manages requests to connect to power grids across the state, previously had proposals for about 60 battery-storage facilities for Long Island in 2025. That list has since been whittled to 20, Newsday reported. It’s common for projects to come and go from the list; National Grid said it had withdrawn its plans to "explore other opportunities."

"National Grid is not planning to develop any additional battery sites on Long Island at this time," other than the two on the South Fork, National Grid Ventures spokesman Will Brunelle said in an email in response to Newsday's questions. "The other proposals were withdrawn in favor of opportunities that better aligned with our business priorities." 

Newsday has reported National Grid was listed as proposing battery plants in Wading River, Southampton and Glenwood Landing. Brunelle last year told Newsday the proposed plants were "in the exploratory phase and are not under active development." He said the company "continuously monitor[s] market conditions" and communicates with the state "as we assess opportunities to enhance the resilience of New York's electricity system."

Other sites previously listed with National Grid Generation as the developer were Far Rockaway, Port Jefferson and West Babylon.

It’s unclear what level of involvement NextEra had with the other proposed plants. NextEra’s website said it operates more than 50 battery energy storage plants across the country, with another 7,100 megawatts under development as of 2024, and the company remains bullish on the facilities.

Asked if the company has plans for batteries in New York State or on Long Island, Bill Orlove, a NextEra spokesman, said in an email that the company is "always evaluating opportunities to support grid reliability and strengthen energy infrastructure."

New York has a goal of about 6,000 megawatts of battery storage by 2030. Most Long Island towns have moratoriums on the facilities, citing past fires at facilities around the world. Proponents, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, say the systems are essential for storing power to stabilize the electric grid.

They also say the technology is safe and made even safer by new state fire safety codes that took effect this month. Previous fires across the state, including at National Grid/NextEra's East Hampton facility and another in Warwick last month, happened before the new codes were instituted, officials say.

The batteries are not power plants in the traditional sense. Instead of generating power, they store it in hundreds of thousands of lithium-ion battery cells in containers, which can stabilize the grid by discharging stored power during times of high demand. That can be helpful when the South Fork Wind Farm, for instance, is producing more energy than the grid needs, such as on windy winter nights. The batteries can then discharge the energy during expensive peak demand summer hours.

The two existing facilities on the South Fork, in Montauk and in East Hampton, have been operating under contract to LIPA since 2018. LIPA’s 20-year contracts to use the facilities, which are rated at 5-megawatts each, amount to a combined $109 million.

A 2023 fire at the East Hampton plant took 30 hours to get under control. The fire required a complete replacement of internal battery components, Newsday reported, and one of the firefighters who responded to the blaze said the battery’s owners "couldn’t provide us with very basic information" about potential toxins released in the smoke, among other things. Newsday reported company testers waited for four months after the blaze to collect soil samples around the site, did not conduct groundwater samples and initially didn’t test for lithium, according to a state report. Lithium tests ultimately were completed and were found to be below hazardous levels.

The upgraded East Hampton battery plant was back online in July 2024.

Asked to detail the work at Montauk, Brunelle said the facility is "replacing its battery cells with the same modules that are now in use at the upgraded East Hampton facility." He said the new facility, which is offline but will be brought back into commercial operation in April, uses "state of the art" technology with the "most up-to-date safeguards."

LIPA in 2024 spent $2.2 million to use the East Hampton facility during the six months it was back in operation, according to LIPA purchasing records. LIPA awarded the $51 million East Hampton battery contract as part of a bigger plan to fortify the South Fork with new green power facilities to meet growing demand. The plan included the separately awarded South Fork Wind Farm, now producing energy for the grid.

The Montauk battery, called the Montauk Energy Storage Center, in 2024 was paid $2.2 million of its $58 million contract with LIPA, which also expires in 2038.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.