Morehouse board moves toward local law to regulate battery storage sites

The Morehouse Town Board discussed adopting a local law to regulate battery energy storage systems after Supervisor Anthony Fernandez said a moratorium would produce only a temporary delay.

"A battery storage facility is where they store all the batteries for the solar farm. NYS is all for the farms and storage facilities, because they are a green State. And unfortunately, there is no way of stopping them from coming in. The moratorium will only push them off about a year and a half, but a local law will give them guidelines of what they can do and what they can't do," Fernandez said during the public portion of the June 9 meeting.

Fernandez said the town attorney is drafting a local law template for another municipality and Morehouse plans to "piggyback" on that work to adopt standards and restrictions tailored to local concerns. No draft language or timeline was provided at the meeting.

Resident Sheryl Fleming asked for clarification about the town's options; board members described the difference between a short moratorium and a longer local law process. The board did not take formal regulatory action during the meeting and indicated it will return to the issue once the attorney's draft is available.

The discussion positions the town to move from short-term delay toward explicit local regulation that would define siting and operation requirements for battery storage facilities.