Pulaski Street site considered for development of battery energy storage facility

A renewable energy company is considering developing a five-megawatt commercial battery energy storage facility on the corner of Pulaski Street and JT Boulevard in Riverhead.

Representatives of Nexamp, a vertically integrated company that develops and operates solar and battery storage projects across the country, pitched the development to Riverhead Town planners this morning during a presubmission conference at Riverhead Town Hall. 

The facility would be sited on a one-acre industrially zoned parcel of land with the address 1281 Pulaski Street. Battery energy storage facilities are a specially permitted use in the Industrial C zoning district, and the siting of the facility requires the approval of the Town Board, in addition to regular Planning Board approvals.

Battery energy storage system facilities, also known as BESS, store electrical energy generated during off-peak hours to be distributed during peak hours. They are considered key to the rapidly developing renewable energy industry — and New York State meeting its goals of making its economy carbon neutral by 2050. 

The storage facility will connect to an existing distribution circuit on J T Boulevard. The batteries will be stored in six Tesla storage containers, Nexamp representatives said. Solar energy generation is not part of the project.

Ariel Kondiles, Nexamp’s director of energy storage development, said the company offers training to local firefighters both before and after the facility is built. “We’re willing to work with the fire department on their needs to make sure that they also feel comfortable with the emergency response plans and whatnot,” she said.

“In terms of the projects we’ve seen, this is on the smaller side,” Riverhead Senior Planner Matt Charters said. Larger facilities have been proposed in the vicinity of an existing Long Island Power Authority substation on Edwards Avenue in Calverton. 

Riverhead Senior Planner Greg Bergman told Nexamp representatives that it might take a while to process the application for the development, given the town is in the process of completing the update to its 20-year-old comprehensive plan. There are several other development applications received by the town that have yet to be processed, he said.

The town code allowing BESS facilities was unanimously adopted by the Town Board last April. All battery energy storage developments in Riverhead are required to follow the state’s building and fire safety codes.

Although Riverhead Town currently has a moratorium on industrial development, the moratorium only applies to the Calverton hamlet. The Town Board was set to vote on a battery storage development moratorium after three fires at battery energy storage facilities across New York, but the moratorium was scrapped at the beginning of the year. Supervisor Tim Hubbard said a moratorium was no longer necessary because the state would likely have new safety codes published before battery storage facilities were built in the town. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in February that a working group established to investigate BESS fires and evaluate the safety of the facilities has recommended enhanced safety standards. The new codes have not yet been adopted by the state.