Providence fire chief sounds alarm on battery storage proposal

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Well, the Providence fire chief is sounding the alarm on legislation that would make it a right to be able to place energy storage systems in abandoned properties.

[00:00:09]>> Clean energy advocates say this will address a major gap in Rhode Island's power grid, but our Kate Wilkinson joins us in studio with a look at both sides.

[00:00:16]Kate? Rhode Island's energy storage actually lags behind states with much smaller populations like Vermont, but Providence fire chief Derek Silva says these types of batteries could put his firefighters at risk. Sparks flew in March at this auto repair shop on Warrington Avenue in Providence when this electric car burst into flames.

[00:00:34]>> That fire spread quite dramatically because of the lithium ion battery and where it started.

[00:00:40]>> Providence fire chief Derek Silva says lithium ion batteries are in everything from electric vehicles to scooters, but when they catch fire he says firefighters can't put them out.

[00:00:49]>> Battery fires cannot be extinguished by water, so our concern is how do we contain that fire? How do we make sure that fire doesn't spread?

[00:00:55]>> These batteries are also found in energy storage systems used to hold the power from renewable sources like solar and wind, but clean energy advocates say Rhode Island is far behind the goal it set in 2024.

[00:01:06]>> Uh 90 megawatts by the end of this year, uh 600 megawatts by 2033.

[00:01:12]Uh I regret to inform the committee that as of right now we have one 3-megawatt facility uh in the Pasco utility district.

[00:01:18]>> Nick Nybo is the legal counsel for the renewable manufacturer Revity Energy. He says that lack of power storage is straining the state's grid. He's supporting legislation in the Senate that would open up abandoned buildings and contaminated spaces for energy storage.

[00:01:32]>> As a very limited uh nudge to tell energy storage developers where in the state they can go.

[00:01:39]>> But Silva says it could be incredibly dangerous if an energy storage system catches fire.

[00:01:43]>> We won't be able to allow them to just burn themselves out because they'll be much larger, particularly in Providence where we have a densely populated community, and that's why that site-specific consideration about where these facilities are located is so crucial, and that bill takes that consideration away. NIMBY declined an on-camera interview today, but wrote in a statement saying developers would still need to get approvals from the community, including proving that there's no undue fire safety risk. The bill's up for a vote in the Senate next Tuesday. In the studio, Kate Wilkinson, 12 News.