No. Castle Latest Town to Take Action on Battery Storage Systems
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The North Castle Town Board recently approved a revision to its town code so that battery energy storage systems (BESS) cannot be considered a public utility.
Becoming the latest municipality to take action with a proliferation of proposals for systems in the area, town officials said they wanted to take steps to protect the public until the technology to improve safety becomes available.
In North Castle and other communities that are serviced by volunteer emergency responders, there have been concerns about serious fires that have been ignited by a BESS elsewhere in the U.S. Those fires typically must be allowed to burn for days.
“I still view this as just a stop-gap measure,” said Town Attorney Roland Baroni. “I think the BESS systems are going to have application in the future once the technology for safety has improved a bit and, of course, finding the right properties to put these. That’ll be a challenge. But I’m sure some communities have large acreage. I’m not sure we’ll have that acreage.”
Excluded from the local law that was approved on Aug. 14 are residential solar panel systems and Tesla chargers that have capacity greater than 80 kilowatts but are commonly used by individual households.
The law could also become moot one day if the state passes legislation that would override any local measures on the issue. New York State has been encouraging the development of the systems in hopes of meeting its goal of having 70 percent of its energy generated by renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040.
Councilman Saleem Hussain said the town must carefully monitor changes in state legislation and policy as well as technology because it will evolve over time. In June, the state Public Service Commission updated its energy storage goals, signaling that it may become more involved on the matter.
Hussain also mentioned that it might be best to eventually allow to better regulate the systems to have better oversight of what may be installed.
More than a year ago, an applicant sought to place a BESS on New King Street not far from Westchester County Airport, but the Town Board did not consider the proposal.
North Castle’s local law to amend the definition of a public utility came about after a blind spot in the Mount Kisco Village Code prompted an applicant, New Leaf Energy, to challenge the building inspector’s interpretation of whether a BESS is such a utility. The Zoning Board of Appeals upheld the building inspector’s interpretation for the proposed facility at the Diamond Properties complex on North Bedford Road.
New Leaf Energy is now seeking a use variance to operate the facility. The village’s ZBA is expected to take up that issue next month.
Meanwhile, the village, which enacted a moratorium earlier this month, has scheduled a public hearing for next Wednesday evening as it looks to create a committee of its own staff and consultants to study the facilities and make recommendations to potentially revise its zoning.
Also, earlier this month, the Mount Pleasant Town Board has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, Sept. 10 to consider a six-month moratorium on the development of any BESS within the town.
Already this summer, the towns of Carmel and Kent in Putnam County have approved moratoriums to also study the potential of impacts of a BESS on their communities.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
