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Resident urges Tippecanoe County to act on proposed commercial battery energy storage project
Summary
At the June 15 meeting, resident Kenny McCreary told commissioners an unknown developer has an active MISO interconnection request for a commercial battery energy storage system near the Duke substation and urged a ban, moratorium or fast adoption of BES ordinances.
Kenny McCreary, a resident of West Lafayette, told the Tippecanoe County Commissioners on June 15 that an apparent commercial battery energy storage system (BESS) project is active in the MISO interconnection queue and urged county officials and planning staff to act quickly.
McCreary said the project — listed in the queue as a Duke Energy Indiana LLC request near the Duke substation at County Road 500 West and State Road 26 — appears to have been filed by an entity that concealed its identity. "A mysterious entity has likely spent several hundred thousand dollars to file this project while hiding their identity and intentions for over 3 years from all of us," he said.
He told commissioners Duke officials indicated they were unaware of the project despite the listing, and warned that state law on BESS alone is "not enough by itself." McCreary outlined three practical policy options for the county: temporarily ban commercial BESS facilities while drafting rules that exempt small backup systems; impose a moratorium to allow drafting of appropriate ordinance guardrails; or quickly adapt existing ordinances from other Indiana counties as a starting point. He called doing nothing "unwise," saying it would create concern for thousands of residents in surrounding townships and West Lafayette.
McCreary asked the commissioners to direct Area Plan Commission staff to act before the project advances further in the MISO queue. The transcript records no formal response from commissioners or staff during this public comment segment.
Provenance: Remarks recorded in public comment between SEG 652 and SEG 747.
