As a New York State task force wraps up the public comment process on a series of changes to the state’s fire code in response to three Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) fires in the state in 2023, local governments on the East End are also hashing out the details of how BESS systems will be regulated here.
Pictured Above: A typical BESS storage container, in this case designed by Honeywell.
BESS systems are large, containerized banks of batteries used to store electricity — either from the existing electric grid or from a renewable energy generation site. They have become a growing part of the landscape as New York State works toward its clean energy goals, retiring fossil fuel-powered “peaker plants” that provide extra power at times of high demand.
Currently, most BESS systems use volatile lithium ion batteries, although newer, more stable battery chemistry is expected to be used in these systems in the future.
The state Inter-Agency Fire Safety Working Group recommendations, for lithium-ion BESS facilities that produce more than 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity, include requiring “industry-funded independent peer review” of fire safety reports prepared by companies like Underwriters Laboratory for battery systems.
It also recommended cabinet enclosures to prevent explosions within the containers that already separate batteries in BESS facilities, requiring qualified representatives of the operator of the system be dispatched within 15 minutes and be able to arrive on scene within four hours to provide support to local emergency responders and the sites be monitored by CCTV and a 24/7 staffed Network Operations Center that can communicate critical failure notifications to the site operator.
The report also recommends safety signage on perimeter fences, mandatory installation of fire breaks, periodic inspections, emergency response plans and regular training for local fire departments, and establishing guidance for water supply, “including whether water is appropriate for different technologies,” and whether that water should be used for cooling, smoke control, preventing fire spread or other purposes.
A copy of the code recommendations is online here and comments on the proposed changes are being accepted online here.
Many of the fire and safety issues would likely be addressed through the state fire code, but individual towns might have the most influence over the siting of the facilities, and moratoriums on new BESS systems underway in Southold and Southampton are continuing as the towns look to changes to the state fire code expected to be made after the Working Group’s recommendations are adopted.
Southold Town placed a one-year moratorium on BESS facilities after a 60 megawatt BESS was proposed by Key Capture Energy on Oregon Road in Cutchogue in the winter of 2022-2023, and this spring extended the moratorium until the spring of 2025.
As the state works to finalize its rules, Southold Town is expecting to take up recommendations made by its Battery Energy Storage Systems Task Force in the near future as part of its zoning update process underway now, Southold Councilwoman Anne Smith told a crowd gathered at a BESS forum sponsored by the Cutchogue Civic Association on Sept. 17.
“There is a significant zoning update going on, and this is part of that,” she said. “We certainly will be seeking guidance from the state. This fits into the bigger zoning puzzle.”
Ms. Smith added that none of Southold’s proposed code changes will go into effect without public engagement and formal public hearings.
Southold BESS Task Force Chairman John Kongoletos gave an overview of his group’s recommendations, which mirrored many of the state task force’s proposals, including safety signage, fences, an emergency response plan and firefighter training, spacing of units within the facility and requiring developers to pay for public safety improvements necessary for their projects.
Code changes recommended by Southold’s BESS Task Force, like many across the state produced on a model prepared by NYSERDA, are aimed at providing stringent review of BESS systems that produces more than 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity, known as “Tier 2” systems.
Tier 2 BESS facilities would be allowed through a Special Use Permit within non-residential zoning districts, and would be required to be set back 750 feet from occupied community buildings, disaster response facilities and critical environmental areas, and 500 feet from any critical infrastructure, and a public hearing would be required before the board reviewing the application.
At the Cutchogue forum, Paul Rogers, of the Energy Safety Response Group, which works to develop safety protocols for BESS systems, said everything his company asked for was in the first draft of the new state code.
“I was shocked we got it,” he said.
Mr. Rogers said that data gathered by industry experts has not supported evacuations of people from areas surrounding BESS fires, and that they are more likely to be safe if they go inside and close their doors and windows.
“It’s up to the incident commander to make that decision,” he said, referring to the local emergency responder in charge of the scene. “We’re here to give guidance to the fire service, and this is a place for shelter in place. We do not want to take people out into a contaminated atmosphere.”
Ian Latimer of the New York State Energy Research Development Agency, was also at the Cutchogue forum, and he told the crowd, many of whom were asking “Why Cutchogue?” as a site for a BESS system, that Cutchogue is just one of many, many proposed locations for BESS facilities across the state and the country.
“The grid of the future is already here in some places,” he said, adding that, in California the prior day, “for a couple of hours they had more energy going onto the grid from battery energy than any other form of power.”
“Anything that happens here, any problem that comes up, the volunteer fire service will mitigate that problem,” said Paul Riley of the Southold Town Fire Chiefs Council, at the Cutchogue forum. “The fire service has proposals in for equipment and training. It is your friends and neighbors, as volunteers, who are going to take care of that issue. We’re going to deal with it as volunteers, who take care of a lot of this now.”
“And if there’s equipment you need, have the developers pay for it,” said Mr. Kongoletos.
After a moratorium on BESS systems in Southampton Town was extended for six months in July, Southampton’s Battery Energy Storage Steering Committee will take comment from the public at its next meeting on Sept. 30 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Southampton Town Board meeting room.
While Southampton had already drafted a section of the town code to govern BESS systems, which was adopted with little public comment at the height of the pandemic, the town adopted a moratorium on BESS after massive public pushback against a proposed 100 megawatt BESS, known as Canal Southampton Battery Storage, LLC, which was being reviewed by the town’s Planning Board when the moratorium went into effect.
Many members of the public who have spoken out against Canal BESS have asked that such systems be banned in Southampton, and the overwhelming cry from the public was to keep BESS out of residential areas.
Southampton’s committee is expected to remove residential zones from the list of zoning districts where BESS facilities are allowed, and to require a minimum setback of 300 feet from any residential building or school. Large projects, over 5 megawatts, would be reviewed by the Town Board instead of the town Planning Board, for an extra layer of oversight, and the facilities would be subject to numerous fire safety requirements, said Town Planning & Development Administrator Janice Sherer at the group’s July 16 meeting.
“The Suffolk County Fire Academy is really in awareness training. They’re doing catch-up,” said Southampton Town Emergency Management Administrator Ryan Murphy at the July 16 meeting. “I’ve sat through the state trainings, and stuff from UL (Underwriters Labs) and what we’re hearing (from the industry) about toxicity levels and concerns is not matching what we’re being trained on in the fire service. What’s in the air, and what’s in the runoff?”
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