The board will continue to weigh a 12-month halt to village processing of any applications for permits related to battery energy storage systems often associated with “utility grade” solar energy projects following a lengthy public hearing during its meeting last week.
Village resident Wade Wagner said that while he understands the board’s reasonings to pass the moratorium, he fears that the current draft of the law is too “broad” and the law should specifically spell out which type of battery storage systems would not be allowed under the moratorium.
“If you’re concerned about (lithium-ion batteries), I can understand and especially about doing it in a building that may be in the business district, (since) it’s not an industrial zone and so forth. But on the flip side of that, I kind of have an issue. I understand the danger, but I have an issue with the fact you’re going to a place where you shouldn’t be going, which is telling property owners what to do with their property,” Wagner said. “The wording is broad and it covers even people like myself, because as soon as I heard this, I’m like, ‘Oh, great, here I’m messing around with solar panels and batteries, and now you’re going to put a moratorium.’”
The law defined a battery energy storage system as “A rechargeable energy storage system consisting of one or more devices: including batteries, battery chargers, controls, power conditioning systems, and associated electrical equipment, assembled together, capable of storing energy in order to provide electrical energy at a future time.”
Just like multiple other neighboring municipalities, the board is considering action on battery storage systems that the towns of Royalton, Somerset and Wilson , took in the wake of a July 2023 incident in Lyme, Jefferson County , where four lithium battery storage trailers caught fire at a Convergent Energy solar installation.
Niagara County Legislator David Godfrey , who was in attendance at the meeting also recommended the board include more specific wording in their law.
“I hear this all through my different towns and county, and there’s moratoriums but it’s specifically targeted at the industrial, large capacity, lithium storage batteries...I think the wording, in my opinion, should be very focused on exactly what you’re targeting to kind of shy away from that personal, turbine, home use configuration,” Godfrey said.
While there are no such current sites or proposed projects utilizing battery storage in the village, trustee Greg Martin said the moratorium would act as a “safety measure” while they look to spell out policy on battery storage.
“Our engineer said all municipalities should put one of these in place, a battery storage moratorium, where it would include us is there’s a lot of companies out there that are buying vacant buildings, as storage farms, placing batteries in there, buying power low, selling back high. The problem with that is the batteries aren’t safe, because the technology has moved so quickly,” Martin said.
After weighing the input from the residents in attendance at the meeting, the board unanimously voted down the current draft of the law and plan to further discuss any potential changes to it in time for next month’s meeting.
© 2024 the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal (Lockport, N.Y.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
