Construction entrance on Pond Street. with grading complete and equipment staged.

 

 By Joe Stewart

The wooded buffer that long separated the Norfolk Police Department on Sharon Avenue from Pond Street is gone. In its place, a 25-acre expanse of graded earth now stretches toward the horizon — the footprint of a solar farm, where solar panels and battery storage are set to be installed. However, recent community concerns have surfaced, including emergency planning relating to the onsite batteries and the loss of a promised access road from the Police Department to Pond Street, which was expected to reduce response times. 

NextGrid, a developer and operator of distributed solar energy and storage projects in the US with offices in Massachusetts, NextGrid Patriots, LLC, is seeking modifications to previously approved permits for their ground-mounted solar photovoltaic system on the 25-acre site spanning multiple parcels. 

The project, which received initial town approvals in 2022, involves clearing portions of the largely wooded lot to install solar panels, battery storage containers, electrical infrastructure, and stormwater management facilities.  According to Richard McCarthy, Norfolk’s Director of Planning and Development, in March of 2024 NextGrid submitted a modified plan, approved by the Planning Board, which removed the access road.

A recent change to the plan involves repurposing the area of a soon-to-be-removed tower. With that obstruction gone, NextGrid proposes to “fill this void with additional solar modules” to maximize the site’s efficiency, according to a December 17 letter from the project’s engineering firm, BSC Group. Another modification adjusts the stormwater plan because ledge, which is impermeable to water, was discovered, and that requires changes to the planned subsurface infiltration system.

The completed facility is designed to generate approximately 6.1 megawatts of clean energy for the grid and on-site battery storage will store about 3 megawatts.

Residents’ Concerns

As the Planning and Zoning Boards conduct public hearings on NextGrid’s site plan modification to adjust the storm water plan and to add panels given the removal of the tower, a group of residents has organized to demand more information and safeguards. The Norfolk Commonsense Coalition, spearheaded by organizers Jack Olivieri and Teresa Fernald, comprises roughly 50 citizens who say they support renewable energy but have serious concerns about how this specific project has been managed.

“We want the solar farm,” said Fernald, “but we’re worried about the batteries, and we would like to have the promised access road.” The coalition’s concerns center on two main issues: a perceived lack of transparency in the town’s process and specific fears about the safety risks of the large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) that is part of the plan.

Coalition members note that the 2021 Town Meeting warrant article authorizing the land lease did not mention battery storage. They also point to changes like the cancellation of the access road from Sharon Avenue to Pond Street. Their fundamental critique is that town boards have approved contracts and permits without what they consider complete information, leaving critical safety questions unanswered.

The Coalition submitted a 24-page “Memo to Town Officials” detailing their concerns.  In its December 23 filing to the Planning Board, NextGrid addressed the concerns that fall within their area of responsibility.  In particular, the company described the battery system’s design, certifications, and emergency protocols.

The system will use Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) chemistry, which NextGrid states has a higher thermal runaway onset temperature and is generally considered safer than other lithium-ion types. A thermal runaway is a chemical chain reaction that often leads to a fire or explosion in a battery.  Regarding safety certifications, the system is listed under UL 9540 and its design complies with NFPA 855, the national standard for energy storage systems. In an email response to questions, NextGrid shared that they plan two container batteries. For a sense of scale, each container battery weighs approximately 66,000 lbs., can charge at 2MW, and can store 4MWh.

For fire suppression, the container batteries are equipped with a dry-type sprinkler system featuring 124 nozzles per container and a flammable gas detection system that vents gases if detected. NextGrid states that if these measures fail and “full thermal runaway” occurs, the system can be completely submerged in water by the fire department. 

Regarding environmental impact, NextGrid states the system “does not release any chemicals liquid or airborne during operation” and that no wetlands or water bodies are within 1,000 feet of the proposed battery location.

Concerning emergency planning, NextGrid’s operations and maintenance vendor will work with the Norfolk Fire and Police Departments to develop an evacuation plan and will provide training on the system. Financial protections are also addressed, with the project carrying general liability, pollution liability insurance, and a decommissioning bond for removal and site restoration at the end of the system’s life.

Stakes and Path Forward

The debate touches on a central tension of the clean energy transition: balancing the urgent need for renewable infrastructure with the legitimate safety and procedural concerns of host communities. The Coalition’s memo cites incidents of battery storage fires in other states and pending Massachusetts legislation that could impose substantial setback requirements for facilities with batteries.

For NextGrid, the modifications are logical improvements that “do not increase the scale of the project.” For the Norfolk Commonsense Coalition, the project highlights a need for “complete, transparent, and coordinated review” before any final approvals.

As Norfolk deliberates, the outcome will likely be watched by other Massachusetts towns navigating their own paths toward a greener, but increasingly complex, energy future.