Amherst County hears safety, siting and revenue questions on proposed battery energy storage sites

Amherst County supervisors and members of the planning commission held a technical briefing in May on utility-scale battery energy storage systems, hearing from an industry safety consultant, an Appalachian Power representative and local public-safety officials about risks, testing standards and emergency response procedures.

The session featured Paul Rogers, a consultant with ESRG and a retired New York City firefighter, who described industry testing and code standards used to evaluate battery-energy systems and insisted on fire-service involvement in permitting and operations. “There’s a lot of remote monitoring that takes place 24/7. In the event that there is a...problem, this remote monitoring will pick it up and it will actually shut the system down,” Rogers said. He recommended site-specific emergency response plans and periodic training for local fire departments.

Why it matters: Supervisors and planning commissioners raised public-safety and environmental questions after high-profile incidents elsewhere. The county does not have an adopted local ordinance specifically for large battery storage sites; the conversation centered on whether to allow the use, how to regulate it, and how the county would be compensated if projects reduce the amount of available industrial land.

Most important facts: Rogers said modern systems are designed with multiple safety layers, including listed cells and modules, thermal-runaway testing and battery-management systems. He told the meeting that large-scale testing required by recent code updates attempts to validate containment: “They showed that even if this thing were to fully catastrophically fail, that it would not... transfer to the adjacent container,” he said, describing industry large-scale burn tests.

Several supervisors said they remain concerned about past incidents, citing Moss Landing, Calif., and asked whether a battery fire would prompt evacuations or cause soil or water contamination. Rogers said the Moss Landing facility was different in design and older than modern systems; he added that in many incidents fire officials have allowed an active cell fire to “consume itself” under controlled conditions while protecting exposures. “Allow it to consume itself. Stay back from it,” Rogers said when describing typical incident-management steps.

County building- and fire-code staff described existing regulatory tools. “NFPA 70 is the national electric code, and that does have requirements for how those battery storage systems in residential structures are used,” said Nate (building official). He said residential installations and vehicle-to-home systems are regulated under the electrical code and require permits.

Appalachian Power representative Austin Jeffries said utility-scale projects include 24/7 remote-monitoring centers and routine preventative- and corrective-maintenance visits from vendor staff. Jeffries noted AEP currently operates several projects and reported no thermal events at those sites.

Economic and land-use questions were prominent. Supervisors and Economic Development Authority members warned that siting a large battery project on industrial property could remove land for job-creating uses. EDA member Victoria Saunders said battery projects can aid existing manufacturers by smoothing power supply and that siting agreements and payments in lieu of taxes are tools jurisdictions use to offset lost industrial tax base.

No ordinance, permit, or vote: County staff said a draft ordinance had been prepared for discussion, and staff and the county attorney are preparing siting-agreement language that would allow the county to negotiate revenue and other terms. The board and planning commission did not adopt rules or approve any project during the meeting; supervisors said more study and stakeholder discussion are needed.

Ending: County officials said they will continue technical review and return with proposed ordinance language and options for negotiating siting agreements and revenue sharing before any project-specific approvals.