Boston council hearing on battery storage draws technical panel and neighborhood alarm over Brighton site

Boston City Council members and a panel of state regulators, standards experts and industry representatives held a hearing March 25 to review the technical, regulatory and public-safety issues around battery energy storage systems (BESS). The session included officials from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the Department of Public Utilities siting division, ISO New England, the National Fire Protection Association and city agencies, and drew prolonged public testimony from Brighton neighbors opposed to a proposed facility at 35 Electric Ave.

The hearing was intended to explain how BESS fit into Massachusetts’ clean-energy plans and new permitting rules enacted in the 2024 Grid Equity Act, and to surface community concerns about fire safety, air impacts and local evacuation logistics.

State undersecretary of energy Michael Judge told the committee that energy storage is central to the state’s legally binding greenhouse-gas reductions. “These are not goals, they’re not targets, they’re requirements,” Judge said, citing the Global Warming Solutions Act and subsequent climate laws. Governor and state officials have concluded that storage will be needed at scale to integrate renewables, manage peak load and support reliability.

Panelists outlined how the Grid Equity Act changes the siting landscape. Andy Grain, director of the DPU siting division, said the act divides projects by size: local consolidated permitting will cover smaller systems while the state siting body will review larger facilities. Grain said the line for batteries is set at 100 megawatt-hours; projects at or above that threshold generally move to state review. Joan Cubbins, general counsel for the siting board, said the act requires pre-filing community engagement, cumulative impact analyses and an intervener support grant program for communities and municipalities.

Safety and standards were a major focus. Robert Duvall, northeast regional director and fire investigator for the National Fire Protection Association, reviewed how thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries can spread through a pack and stressed the role of NFPA 855 and related standards in design, operation and responder planning. “NFPA 855 ... covers the minimum requirements for mitigating hazards within an ESS installation,” Duvall said, noting the standard’s annexes and the importance of pre-incident planning between installers, utilities and fire departments.

Todd Olinsky-Paul of Clean Energy Group and Clean Energy States Alliance summarized battery chemistry and market drivers, including that most current large installations use lithium-ion cells and that four-hour duration systems are common because markets and capacity rules often reward that duration. He and others noted alternative chemistries such as sodium-ion and iron phosphate are in development and may change safety and supply dynamics over time.

Industry and utility representatives said BESS provide grid benefits but emphasized siting and safety. Jennifer Schilling of Eversource described the company’s proposal for distribution‑scale batteries as part of a broader Hyde Park–Dorchester supply initiative and said the batteries would be separated from residences and built to current safety standards. “We will continue to engage residents, community groups, businesses, city officials and other stakeholders as the process continues,” Schilling said.

Residents who testified described the proposed Flatiron Energy site on Electric Avenue in Brighton as too close to homes, public housing, parks and major transport routes. Multiple speakers recounted national incidents, including the Moss Landing facility in California, as evidence that large BESS fires can produce toxic smoke, force evacuations and disrupt transit. Brighton resident Benny Upton, a Boston firefighter who said he is not speaking as a representative of the department, said: “I am not opposed to BESS technology … What I oppose is this reckless placement of such a hazardous facility within a densely populated urban neighborhood.”

City officials described workstreams the administration has launched to prepare municipal review and public engagement. Oliver Sellers-García, Commissioner of Environment, and Travis Anderson, senior infrastructure and energy planner, said the city is commissioning educational materials, technical-assistance on call for Article 80 reviews, and a climate-action planning update that will incorporate storage siting guidance. Anderson said the city expects consultants to be onboarded in April and for public-facing material to be available by July, timed to inform commentary on state straw proposals and draft regulations.

Council members pressed state and city officials on timelines and resources. Officials said the Grid Equity Act establishes a 12‑month timetable for local consolidated permits and a roughly 15‑month process for larger state reviews, includes funding for intervener support, and requires the state Department of Environmental Protection to issue guidance on BESS public-health and environmental impacts (officials said DEP guidance is expected later this summer). Undersecretary Judge and siting-board staff said straw proposals and stakeholder meetings on implementation are imminent.

No formal municipal action or vote took place at the hearing; the docket was informational and stayed in committee. Councilors and several residents asked the committee to schedule follow-up briefings and to consider local rules or a pause on new BESS permits near dense residential areas until independent safety, evacuation and insurance impacts are clarified.

The committee chair said she would consider additional hearings and the session ended with public comment concluded and the item remaining under committee review.