Southold Supervisor Scott Russell is calling for a 12-month moratorium on the development of battery energy storage systems in Southold Town.
The Southold Town Board will discuss a planning process and consider the moratorium at its meeting Tuesday, Russell said in a press release yesterday afternoon.
“Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) facilities are a key component for the viability and promotion of renewable energy sources,” Russell said. “However, the technology of these systems is still in its infancy.”
The town must undertake a thorough review of the battery energy storage systems to identify any possible threats to public health, safety and welfare, as well as evaluate the systems’ potential harmful environmental impacts, Russell said.
The results of the town’s review will allow it to craft a code that will spell out the criteria for future siting, site design, safety requirements for BESS facilities.
“A 12-month moratorium will provide the time necessary to undertake such an analysis,” Russell said.
The Southold supervisor advocates following the guidance issued by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, known as NYSERDA. The authority has published a guidebook for local governments that aims to assist municipalities develop codes, siting criteria, permits and enforcement procedures.
“When combined with all applicable provisions of the codes, regulations, and industry standards as referenced in the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, these resources create an all-encompassing process to safely permit all types of battery energy storage systems,” the guidebook says.
In an interview yesterday afternoon, Russell said it makes good sense for the town to utilize the resources and guidance developed by NYSERDA.
“There’s no point in trying to reinvent the wheel,” Russell said.
Town officials have been considering a moratorium on BESS facilities for a while, Russell said, even before a recent proposal by an energy company to site a BESS facility in Cutchogue, adjacent to a proposed new LIPA substation.
Russell said the town was researching the law governing moratoria as it applied to BESS systems and the new town attorney has signed off on the idea.
Key Capture Energy of Albany, New York has proposed building a 60 MW battery energy storage facility on farmland on Oregon Road in Cutchogue. It has filed applications to the Southold Zoning Board of Appeals for: a zoning code interpretation (that the facility is a “public utility” as defined by the Southold Town Code); a special exception use; and an area variance.
The applications remain pending.
The Southold ZBA held a public hearing on the application on Dec. 1, and held the record open until Jan. 19 for the submission of supplemental materials and written comments. Key Capture Energy has requested an adjournment of the Jan. 19 date to another date no earlier than March 16, to allow the company time to submit additional documents and allow the ZBA time to consider the submissions.
The Southold Planning Board, when asked for comments on the applications by the ZBA, gave the project a thumbs-up in November, but after hearing from the public at its Dec. 5 meeting, retracted its support, “due to significant concerns raised about battery energy storage facilities” that “highlighted the volatile nature of lithium-ion batteries, and the potential dangers should the facility catch fire.”
The Planning Board said it currently lacks “adequate information about the safety of these types of facilities, including the technology and equipment necessary for local fire districts to be able to suppress a fire should one occur, the potential for toxic gases to be emitted during a fire, the effects of fire suppression chemicals on groundwater, and the potential threat to the health, safety and welfare to the public.”
The NYSERDA guidebook, which is available online, offers municipalities guidance for developing codes to site and regulate the facilities. If the town follows the process recommended in the guidebook, Russell said, the town’s questions will be adequately answered and it will be able to make informed decisions on any BESS application that is filed.
According to NYSERDA’s guidance, the first step is to write a plan, Russell said.
“Included in their recommended process is the creation of a Battery Energy Storage Task Force, which would include representatives from the community, businesses, the renewable energy industry, battery storage industry, environmental organizations and municipal officials,” Russell said. “The task force will be charged with the responsibility for creating an action plan that will be adopted as an addition to the town’s Comprehensive Plan, and to serve as a guide for the integration of battery energy storage systems into the town code,” he said.
The guidebook says local governments can satisfy the planning requirement by either updating an existing comprehensive plan or adopting a new comprehensive plan.
Russell in his press release laid out the elements for a “thorough review” before amending the town code to allow battery energy storage systems to be built and operated in Southold.
These include, he said:
Reviewing current industry safety protocol standards and success rate in application to new systems.
Addressing concerns raised by several of the town’s emergency services organizations, especially fire departments regarding issues of public safety and whether or not that safety can be guaranteed if the facility is damaged by fire, equipment failure, human error or natural disaster.
Reviewing the town’s comprehensive plan and considering supplemental integration of BESS facility siting and safety guidance. This will include an analysis of the potential impacts on the sole source aquifer should there be a discharge of materials to soil or groundwater.
Reviewing the town’s emergency management response plan and updating it to address these types of uses, including formulating a written emergency response plan.
Reviewing all siting considerations, i.e. appropriate zoning classifications, minimum lot areas and setbacks, buffer requirements, maximum structure height and square footage, design standards, signage, lighting, clearing and vegetation, distance to occupied dwellings, work sites and other locations where people congregate, such as parks, as well as creating standards for emergency access and proximity to areas of high ecological value.
Establishing a fire marshal inspection policy, minimal safety requirements, maintenance and operational reporting requirements.
Developing requirements for decommissioning plans, performance bond or other suitable guarantees.
Any draft new code would be submitted to the N.Y. Department of State for review, Russell said.
“BESS facilities will have an important role in the future for the viability of renewable energy on a large scale,” Russell said. But, like any new technology, human and environmental impacts much be evaluated prior to allowing the new land use, Russell said. And developing the new code the right way “requires certain steps be taken,” as outlined by NYSERDA,” he said.
“A 12-month moratorium will provide the time necessary to comply with that directive,” Russell said.
Riverhead Town takes a different approach
In neighboring Riverhead Town, where two utility-scale battery energy storage systems applications have been made public, officials have taken a starkly different approach.
Though community members have asked the Town Board to follow the process spelled out in NYSERDA’s guidebook, the board has moved forward on a battery energy storage system code amendment without drafting a plan, creating a task force, or publicly discussing the type of analysis the guidebook recommends.
The board has held two public hearings on drafts of the code, prepared by the town’s planning department. The code is based on the NYSERDA model code, officials said. It would allow utility-scale battery energy storage systems in certain industrial, agricultural and residential zoning use districts. No vote on the proposed code has yet been scheduled, though it appears to have the support of a majority of Town Board members.
| MORE COVERAGE: | Proposed battery energy storage code draws questions, criticism at public hearing |
| Rehearing set on proposed battery energy storage code for Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 20 |
Community members have also advocated for a limited industrial use moratorium that would apply only to three industrial zoning districts within the hamlet of Calverton. After a public hearing where they heard overwhelming community support for the moratorium, a Town Board majority rejected the idea in a 3-2 vote.
Council Member Bob Kern said he would only consider a moratorium if it exempted what he calls “benign uses,” and suggested that battery energy storage systems are “benign uses” that should be exempted from any moratorium. Though he has said he was working with Building and Planning Administrator Jefferson Murphree on an alternative moratorium code that would contain the exemptions he advoates, he has not yet offered a code for public discussion.
Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said she might consider a moratorium if it exempted pending applications.
| MORE COVERAGE: | Town Board remains divided as it considers two routes to industrial moratorium in Calverton |
| Outcry for industrial moratorium reaches fever pitch at contentious Town Board meeting |
The board has not publicly discussed a town-wide moratorium on battery energy storage systems in general, though Council Member Tim Hubbard, who proposed the Calverton industrial moratorium, has said he favors completing the town’s long-stalled comprehensive plan update, which should analyze BESS uses and propose appropriate locations for them, before adopting a BESS code and approving BESS facilities in town.
Since BESS facilities were not an allowed use under the Riverhead Town Code, both applications for building permits were denied by the Murphree, who is the town’s zoning officer. One proposal, on residentially zoned property on Mill Road, is not located in a zoning district where the facilities would be allowed under the town’s proposed code, if it is adopted in its current form. The developer could seek a special exception use from the Zoning Board of Appeals to site the use at the site. The other proposal, on an industrially zoned site on Edwards Avenue, is located in a district where such facilities would be allowed under the proposed code.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
