Pleasant Prairie approves zoning rules for battery energy storage systems

The Village Board approved a zoning text amendment (ordinance 26-21) on April 27 allowing battery energy storage systems in the M4 Power generating district subject to conditional use permit review and specific standards.

Rob, head of community development, summarized the changes: a 10-acre minimum lot size with 300 feet of frontage, setbacks of 100 feet from a street property line, 50 feet from side and rear property lines, 25 feet from wetlands and 50 feet from navigable waterways, a maximum height of 15 feet, and a prohibition on construction in flood plains. The ordinance also requires a hazard mitigation analysis using national fire-protection standards, commercial general liability insurance including pollution and environmental liability with specified limits, and financial security to ensure removal and site restoration within 12 months after cessation of operations.

Rob said the state recently updated policy to allow municipalities to collect utility aid payments for battery systems, an aid the village could split with the county. "It works out to roughly, like, $1,000 per megawatt," Rob said, and he offered the example that a 200-megawatt facility could yield roughly $200,000 in utility aid to the village. Trustees asked about risks and site selection; several members said the former power-plant site is a preferable location because transmission mains are already present and the area is industrial.

Trustee Mike Polokoff moved approval and the motion was seconded and adopted unanimously. The ordinance was taken off the table at the start of the item and passed after discussion and the tightened insurance and decommissioning provisions were added.

The ordinance includes administrative review steps and requires compliance with the village’s conditional-use process; no specific applications were before the board at the meeting.