Manassas will not host FEMA-backed Church Street battery; BEMA to relocate system outside city

Manassas city leaders said the city will not participate in a FEMA-backed utility-scale battery installation proposed for the Church Street site, and staff will inform the Virginia Energy Management Authority (BEMA) that the system should be located outside city limits, most likely in Harrisonburg.

City Manager Burke told the council the decision stemmed from concerns raised at a recent public meeting and follow-up technical information gathered by Fire Chief Mills and staff. “We will be communicating to BEMA that the city will not be opting to participate in that program, and BEMA will be locating the battery system outside of the city, most likely in Harrisonburg,” Burke said during the council session.

Why it matters: the FEMA/BEMA project would have provided a large “peak shaving” battery to reduce the city’s billed peak demand and potentially lower electricity costs over time. But the installation also raised resident safety and siting concerns that council members and staff said warranted further review and, ultimately, a decision not to proceed at the Church Street location.

What staff presented: Fire Department staff summarized safety and operational details for the commercially available Tesla Megapack 2 XL system under consideration. Chief Mills said the unit meets standards cited by manufacturers and testing bodies, and modern systems include integrated monitoring, thermal management, venting and other safety features. He summarized recent standard updates and incident investigations and said that lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries and fully integrated systems have performed better in recorded incidents than older installations.

At the same time, staff and the San Diego battalion chief consulted by Manassas noted persistent operational questions for the Church Street site: winter operation and snowpack around vents, intrusion of water into cabinets, maintenance and inspection regimes, and emergency response considerations. Staff said some documented incidents in other jurisdictions were tied to older installations or particular battery models, and that vendors now operate 24/7 monitoring centers for these systems.

Alternatives and trade-offs: staff told council that FEMA confirmed the full 14-megawatt system could be located outside the city (the transcript identifies a 14-megawatt figure) and that Manassas would still realize some benefit from system-wide peak reductions but not the full local peak shaving advantage that an on-site 7-megawatt deployment would have provided. Staff also described a fallback option of increasing diesel-generation capacity at positions the city controls, a longer-term project that staff said could preserve local peak-reduction capacity.

Council views and next steps: council members who spoke said the risks and local siting constraints made the Church Street location unsuitable. Several emphasized the need for robust maintenance contracts and detailed operational documentation if the city were ever to host such a system. City staff said they will notify BEMA of the city’s decision and that BEMA will pursue siting alternatives.

Ending: Manassas officials framed the decision as a response to resident concerns and the technical uncertainties for the specific Church Street location rather than a blanket refusal of battery technology. Staff said they will continue to track developments in storage technology and remain open to future opportunities if siting, operations and community safeguards align.