[Massplanners] Battery Energy Storage Systems

[Alison Manugian]

Dracut is in the process of using much of the Medway example.  We have major transmission lines through a section of town and are getting a lot of calls from developers interested in installing these systems.  So far our stock reply has been that it's not in our use table so it's prohibited, but as Carolyn points out, that bars us from having a new tool to help balance demand/use.

My personal background was in a community in north central mass where there were clear cutting projects to make way for large solar farms.  Often the trees were cut in advance of permitting the solar.  This type of language (which we toned back on advice of counsel) helps clarify expectations and hopefully can prevent some of this type of behavior!

Thank you,
Alison

Alison Manugian
Community Development Director
amanugian at dracutma.gov<mailto:amanugian at dracutma.gov>
978-453-4557



________________________________
From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> on behalf of Sarah Raposa via MassPlanners <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2023 3:51 PM
To: Carolyn Britt <cjbritt at comcast.net>
Cc: massplanners at masscptc.org <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Subject: Re: [Massplanners] Battery Energy Storage Systems


[EXTERNAL] This message originated from outside the Town of Dracut. Use caution when opening attachments, clicking links or responding to requests for information.

Hi - I'm on the Medway PB and can confirm it's very detailed and technical. We don't have a municipal electric department so we're dealing with at least one applicant that went directly to the Energy Facilities Siting Board for approval for a 250MW BESS which caused great public concern (all documented on the Town's website<https://www.townofmedway.org/planning-economic-development-board/pages/battery-energy-storage-systems-bess>). It's been a saga; context matters!
Ironically, as the planner in Mansfield (with a municipal electric department) we're having preliminary internal conversations about BESS and the tone is very different.

--
Sarah L. Raposa, AICP

Director of Planning & Development

Mansfield, MA

sraposa at mansfieldma.com<mailto:sraposa at mansfieldma.com> | 508.851.6457


On Thu, Apr 27, 2023 at 3:38 PM Carolyn Britt via MassPlanners <massplanners at masscptc.org<mailto:massplanners at masscptc.org>> wrote:
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)


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