Town of Brookhaven holds community meeting on battery-energy storage systems

More than 100 people turned out Tuesday night, Jan. 21, for a forum the Town of Brookhaven organized to discuss battery-energy storage systems.

Battery-energy storage systems hold solar- or wind-generated energy for release to the electric grid during periods of peak demand. They are an important part of the state’s effort to generate more energy from renewable sources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and make the electric grid more reliable, Camille Warner, project manager for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, told the audience at Suffolk Community College in Selden.

Not everyone was pleased with how the meeting was handled.

People were required to submit their questions online in advance. More than 100 questions were submitted, ranging from concerns about the possibility of fires to impacts on insurance rates, property values, and the environment.

Town supervisor Dan Panico read the questions aloud, which he directed to a panel of seven people. In addition to NYSERDA’s Warner, the panel included a representative from a company that develops safety plans for battery-energy storage systems, deputy town attorney Beth Reilly, the town’s fire marshal, a representative from IBEW union Local 25, a professor at Stony Brook University, and a senior director at PSEG Long Island.

Panico said questions were required to be submitted in advance to keep the meeting running smoothly.

Previous forums on the topic “descended into a simple lack of civility and nothing was accomplished,” he said.

Panico told the audience the purpose of the evening was to inform the public and correct misinformation about the topic on social media, not to push battery-energy storage facilities.

“No one is here to sell you anything,” Panico said.

Brett Houdek is the president of the Medford Taxpayers and Civic Association. The group wants Brookhaven to declare a moratorium on siting battery-energy storage facilities in the town and is fighting plans for a 100-megawatt facility proposed for Horseblock Road, south of the Long Island Expressway. Houdek, who wasn’t able to attend the meeting, noted in an email that residents weren’t able to see the presentations before they submitted their questions. As a result, the forum was “nothing more than an infomercial with the town clearly siding with the developer,” he said.

The Medford battery-energy storage system isn’t the only one planned for the Patchogue area. A 1.9-megawatt facility is being developed on town-owned land off North Ocean Avenue, which has drawn opposition from nearby residents, Newsday reported.

Many of the questions at Tuesday’s forum centered on a recent fire at a battery-energy storage facility in Moss Landing, Calif.

Paul Rogers, an energy storage specialist with Energy Safety Response Group, said the system at Moss Landing is different because it is older and there was little separation between the batteries. The battery-energy systems under development today separate the battery units to prevent fire from spreading, he said.

Panico also said battery-energy storage systems aren’t a way for the town to make up for lost revenue from the pending closure of the town landfill. About 70 percent of the property taxes a project will pay will go to the school district in which it is located, Panico said. Only about 6 percent would go to the town, he said.