NextEra halts two Long Island batteries over PFAS in drinking-water wells

Serguey Asael Shinder10 October 2026, 09:402 min read

NextEra Energy has suspended operations at two battery storage facilities on Long Island, New York — East Hampton and Montauk — while officials investigate drinking-water contamination, Energy-Storage.news reported on 7 October. Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine announced the suspension on 5 October; both sites had ceased operating by 3 October.

How it started. In May 2023 the East Hampton Energy Storage Centre, a 5 MW battery owned by National Grid and developed with a NextEra Energy Resources subsidiary, had an "isolated fire". New York's environmental agency (NYSDEC) has since identified the facility's fire suppression system as the probable source of perfluoropropionic acid (PFPrA) found in groundwater and in Suffolk County Water Authority wells to the south. Its assessment: vapour or residue of Novec 1230, a 3M fire-suppression agent that is itself a PFAS substance, likely combined with the large volumes of firefighting water and ran off into the ground toward the Buckskill Road wellfield.

The consequences so far:

• Two wells taken out of service and two placed under restricted use; in East Hampton, three of the four Buckskill Road wells are out of service.
• No enforceable federal or state drinking-water standard exists for PFPrA; New York's health department set an interim screening threshold of 3 parts per billion for this site.
• The water authority filed a federal lawsuit on 29 May; NYSDEC has designated the property a potential hazardous-waste disposal site.
• The Montauk facility has not been linked to contamination but was included because it uses the same suppressant; the town says the two projects share the same parent, engineers, chemistry and spill-containment approach.

Why it matters beyond Long Island. Battery fire safety debates usually centre on thermal runaway. This case shifts attention to the suppression system and firefighting runoff — a site-design question about what happens to water and agents after a fire. Developers and permitting authorities will be asked about PFAS-free suppression, runoff containment and groundwater monitoring near wellfields; 3M has said it is exiting PFAS production, which also raises a supply question for systems specified with Novec 1230.

Source: Energy-Storage.news, "NextEra halts Long Island BESS operations over drinking water contamination concerns", 7 October 2026 — https://www.energy-storage.news/nextera-halts-long-island-bess-operations-over-drinking-water-contamination-concerns