After withdrawing a proposed zoning ordinance for battery energy storage systems at Tuesday’s Henderson-Henderson County Joint Planning Commission meeting, Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider says county government will submit a revised proposal aligned more closely with a city ordinance that went into effect late last year.
Schneider withdrew the county’s proposed ordinance after hearing planning commissioners’ concerns of these systems’ safety, critiques of the document’s language and a presentation about thermal runaways—large fires that can occur at battery energy storage systems.
Schneider said county officials will also write additional safety guidelines for inclusion in the county’s zoning ordinance proposal which companies running the battery energy storage systems would be urged to abide by.
Another part of the revised document is a requirement that a representative or representatives of county first responders, including the volunteer fire departments, must sign off on a site plan for a new project, the judge said.
Yellowthroat Energy Storage LLC, a subsidiary of Tenaska Energy, has submitted plans to the joint planning commission staff to build a battery installation on a 35-plus acre parcel on Toy-Anthoston Road, near Airline Road, according to planning commission documents.
Both the safety guidelines and the requirement of a first responder representative signature reflect the safety concerns that were presented at Tuesday’s planning commission meeting.
Chris Watson, of the Zion Fire Department, told the commissioners that during thermal runaway events lithium-ion batteries can reach temperatures of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit and sometimes burn for weeks. He showed one television news clip in which a battery energy storage system burned for two weeks. Spraying water won’t put them out and the fire stops only when the battery runs out of juice, he said.
Watson also said that the technology surrounding batteries is increasing rapidly, so fast that fire safety codes can’t keep up with the changes. It’s the “unknown hazards” that are worrisome to firefighters who would respond to a thermal energy event, if it were to occur, he said.
Regarding dealing with thermal runaways and battery systems, he said, “We’re all shooting off the hip on this.”
Commissioner Dickie Johnson described thermal runaways as “worst-case scenarios” to which Watson agreed, before asking how many of these have occurred.
Watson didn’t know, but the Joint Planning Commissioner Executive Director Brian Bishop said an article he read recently cited 16 events in the country last year. Planning Commissioner Heather Toews added that a recent thermal runaway event had occurred in San Diego.
In the city of Henderson’s zoning for the battery systems, the parcel where a system is to be located must be zoned heavy industrial and there must be 100-foot distance between the battery system and a residence.
Brad Bickett, the general manager of Henderson Municipal Power and Light who was not at the meeting, has said in previous interviews with the Hendersonian that thermal runaway events are rare, and technology is improving so that they will occur even less often. HMP&L has just signed a deal with NextEra Energy that will allow the company to build a battery energy storage system at Substation #7 on South Green Street.
Nearby residents of the proposed site expressed their concerns of the battery energy storage system locating near their homes.
Deirdre McConathy shares a property line on two sides of the proposed site. She said it will affect her farm by having a heavy industrial parcel next to her property and will limit her options to do with her property in the future.
James Franks, a volunteer firefighter for both Zion and Niagara fire departments who lives near the proposed site, said residents have questioned Yellowthroat officials about the system but have received few answers about safety.
“We’ve asked repeatedly, but you guys won’t answer,” he said. He added Henderson and Henderson County is not ready for battery energy storage systems.
On Wednesday Yellowthroat commented on Tuesday’s planning commission meeting.
“We appreciate the dedication and cooperation of everyone involved in working on the zoning ordinance,” James Hingston, lead project developer for Yellowthroat, said in a prepared statement. “We began conversations with local first responders and community members around battery storage technology and safety months ago. We hope that Henderson County will pass an ordinance that allows the community to benefit from energy storage.”
Schneider said the county will submit the revised ordinance in time so that it can be reviewed at the joint planning commission’s July meeting.
