[Massplanners] Battery Energy Storage Systems

[Carolyn Britt]

All,

A week or two ago a few of you posted on the Listserve about adopting 
the Medway zoning by-law for Battery Energy Storage. I read over the 
by-law and discussed it with the manager of the Ipswich Electric light 
Department. We discussed the storage system currently in development by 
the ELD and also other potential sites in town that might be developed 
for storage. There were few.

This by-law seems very detailed and in some cases excessive, at least 
for our Municipal Light Plant community. The replacement of cut 
vegetation on site seems extraordinary - where else do we have that 
requirement? While it seems like a good idea, why don't we require this 
for all developments - residential or commercial? It seems like this is 
pressing hard on an important way out of the mess we have made.

Home energy storage systems seem to be generally below the threshold for 
Tier 1. With our ELD being the most likely developer, most of the 
provisions can be included in a Purchase Power Agreement with the 
provider, and the land lease to the provider. Certainly the 
commissioning and decommissioning plans and requirements are key.

I am curious to ask - for the communities that have adopted this by-law, 
why did you do it? Did you have a proposal in your town that you were 
anticipating, for a utility or a business or non-profit, or did you 
adopt  it to be ready should a project arise? What did you think about 
the provisions? Did any seem excessive?

In discussion with the ELD Director, I think we agreed that only a minor 
change to our use regulations to add storage to the line that allows 
municipal power plants, wind turbines, etc. and leave the rest of it to 
state law and legal agreements with providers.

Thank you for making this by-law available, and I would like to hear 
from those of you who have adopted it.

Carolyn Britt,Member, Ipswich Planning Board

1 Shagbark Woods

Ipswich, MA 01938

978-356-9881 (landline) or 978-317-2145 (cell)