Company proposes battery-storage installation adjacent to Spiritwood wind site in Emmons County

A company representative told the Emmons County Board of Commissioners that it plans to site containerized battery-storage units adjacent to an existing wind-farm substation near Spiritwood and asked county staff about the permit fee, setbacks and timing for local and state reviews.

The presenter said the proposal would place battery containers on agricultural property near the substation in the same section as a prior wind project. He said the company intends to follow the same fee approach used for the earlier wind permit (February 2018), when the county assessed a total fee of $29,750, and proposed applying a per-container rate to the 38 containers planned for this project. The presenter said that approach would result in a charge of about $34,000 under the proposed math. He described the total project cost as about $185 million "ish." The company said the planned battery units would have a lifespan of about 30 to 35 years and would likely follow the wind project's decommissioning schedule.

Why it matters: utility-scale battery storage can change how local generation is used on the grid…