They spoke in response to recent articles about local government officials’ safety concerns of BESS facilities
Representatives of Tenaska, an energy company that plans to build a battery energy storage facility near Toy-Anthoston Road, say those facilities have become much safer as the industry learns from past technological mistakes that led to thermal runaway events.
They contacted the Hendersonian to respond to recent articles that detailed local officials’ efforts to find the safest path forward for BESS facilities to locate locally.
Tenaska’s proposal on Toy-Anthoston Road is still in the early stages, and officials in the interview said they’re not for certain when the company will take the next step in the process of getting the BESS built.
A different BESS proposal within city limits involves Henderson Municipal Power & Light, which has signed a contract with Next Era Energy for that company to build and operate a BESS facility on a parcel of land on South Green Street.
According to Henderson-Henderson County Joint Planning Commission Executive Director Brian Bishop, the next step for Tenaska in the process of bringing a BESS to the Toy-Anthoston parcel of land is to get a site plan approved.
After that, the plot would need to be rezoned to heavy industrial, the zoning in which BESS are allowed in the county. Additionally, company officials would need to go before the county’s board of zoning adjustments to be granted a conditional use as, according to Bishop, BESS may be allowed as a conditional use in a heavy industrial zone.
Before all that happens, the company wants to make known the advancements in technology and how that technology is safer than previous BESS systems, a handful of which throughout the U.S. and world caught fire that turned into thermal runaway events.
Thermal runaway events occur when a battery gets overheated and catches fire, and then spreads to other batteries. Officials who’ve dealt with them say the only way to put them out is to let them burn out. Because of the chemical nature of the fire, water does not extinguish them.
Blair Debban, a project manager with Tenaska, said an example of the improved technology is the type of lithium ion batteries now used, called LFP or lithium iron phosphate, which are less likely to overheat and catch fire.
Additionally, Debban said insulation between battery cells and insulation between racks keeps fires contained so that they don’t spread. And computer detection systems at BESS monitor so that when a fire does break out, a module is able to self-isolate, he said.
HMP&L General Manager Brad Bickett agreed that the improving technology surrounding BESS is making thermal runaway events less likely to occur. He said LFP batteries, insulation and a cutting off of the flow of electricity in an overheated battery as a sort of self-isolation as methods that the technology has improved.
Debban said there’s still “some risk” of a thermal runaway at BESS facilities with newer technology, but it is a “minimal risk.” He also said that a thermal runaway event doesn’t pose “much danger past the project fence line” for a community.
To this, Tenaska representatives pointed to two studies—one that looked at the air quality and the other, the water quality—that were compiled after a recent thermal runaway event in southern California. Both studies showed that air and water quality remained at acceptable levels during and after the Sept. 5 SDG&E thermal runaway.
The Hendersonian on Monday reached out to the contacts listed on the studies. A representative of the Land Use and Environment Group in San Diego County responded that the air monitoring report was “accurate and reflects the findings that we shared with media locally.”
Of the air quality measured at numerous locations in and around San Diego, the report stated on each page that “The concentrations shown on the graphs remained significantly below harmful thresholds and do not pose any significant health risks.”
The water analysis concluded that “the samples collected from the runoff water suggests that the water quality is within acceptable limits for most contaminants, especially when considering public health standards for drinking water.”
The water quality report couldn’t be confirmed before this article’s publication.
Additionally, Tenaska said that the company will work directly with local emergency responders, training them to deal with the possible scenarios of incidents at a BESS while also writing an emergency response plan. Debban said it will be a mutually agreeable plan that will be updated annually.
Part of the county government’s plan surrounding BESS is to require a company representative to be on-site of an incident within four hours of its beginning. Tenaska reps said that would be a possibility.
The county has also approved guidelines that will be used to ask questions to BESS companies and ensure that appropriate measures are in place before a BESS locates in the county. The city of Henderson has hired a consultant to assist that would advise the city during the process of a BESS company locating a system here.
James Hingston, Tenaska’s the head of project development, said company representatives are not yet sure when they will be back in Henderson, but said representatives in the future will meet with residents for educational purposes.
“We’re definitely making it a priority to meet with folks,” he said.
