NY residents rebel against battery storage plants for wind, solar power as going green goes south: Playing with fire

Gov.Kathy Hochul’s plans for the Empire State to go green are going south as local communities refuse to build massive battery plants that would store wind and solar energy.One upstate town where a top state official leading the state’s anti-fossil fuel push just voted to ban construction of the plants — and one New York City politician has already called to pause any new sites for the facilities.“We called for — and still support — a moratorium on these [Battery Energy Storage System] facilities almost two years ago,” said Vito Fossella, borough president of Staten Island, where more than a dozen of the facilities are planned.

“They are being placed literally right next door to people’s homes, and even next to a gas station,” Fosella said.“The city is playing with fire by allowing this type of reckless policy to continue.”Duanesburg — where New York State Energy Research and Development president and CEO Doreen Harris lives — recently voted to ban BESS buildings because they “will pose a threat to the public health safety and welfare of residents of the Town and their property,” according to a resolution by the town board.Duanesburg officials said they decided on the ban, first reported by the Daily Gazette, because the town relies on volunteer firefighters and that part of the town lacks access to public water.

Critics have said they are not only a fire hazard, but could spark a blaze that takes longer to extinguish and would spew toxins into the air.The BESS backlash is a blow to the state’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and achieve 100% zero-carbon emission electricity by 2040 under the the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019.The facilities are considered vital in that green push but other communities are digging in against planned construction of the facilities, whether they are directly attached to construction of new alternative-energy plants or standalone battery plants.Massive...