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Hubbardston adopts zoning article to regulate grid-scale battery storage, seeks to restore local review
Summary
Town meeting voters approved a new zoning article regulating grid‑scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). The planning board framed the measure as restoring local review after earlier language was struck down by the Attorney General; the bylaw sets a 0.5 megawatt‑hour threshold and applies building and fire‑code requirements.
Town meeting approved a planning-board‑sponsored zoning amendment to add a new article regulating battery energy storage systems (BESS) for grid‑scale installations.
The planning board chair described the change as an effort to reintroduce local oversight after a prior bylaw was partly struck down by the Attorney General and “blue‑penciled” to allow BESS by right in all zones without local restrictions.
Christopher Monroe, chair of the planning board, told the meeting the revised article targets larger, grid‑scale systems and does not impose site‑plan review on small residential systems such as household solar storage or electric vehicle batteries. Monroe said…
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