CHESTERFIELD — In an empty meeting room at town offices, the Planning Board burned the midnight oil Monday night as they finalized a battery energy storage system, or Bess, bylaw that will be taken up in a special Town Meeting.
On Sep. 30, a special Town Meeting will be held in Town Hall, 403 Main Rd., at 6 p.m. If the bylaw passes during the meeting, it will be forwarded to the state attorney general’s office for a stamp of approval.
The finalized draft took into account previous concerns that the bylaw may impede storing smaller batteries found in cars, generators or other lithium ion devices owned by residents.
To accommodate these concerns, a 50-foot setback in the main residential corridor of town has been laid out instead of a 200-foot setback. However, according to the final draft, the 200-foot setback requirement will stay in place for other areas of town. The central corridor also will not include limitations of Tier 1 batteries, which store one-megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity generated from a renewable source.
However, Tier 2 and 3 batteries, which are much larger, would be excluded from the town’s main artery.
The proposed bylaw would retain a 20% coverage limit on lots which is already included in town regulations. Board members said the limit, combined with setbacks and minimum lot-size requirements, could significantly restrict the amount of land available for a facility.
Responsibly restricting these batteries is the whole point of the bylaw. Fears about the potential of fires have been central.
The Planning Board has been operating at full speed after the state announced new measures for the building of large-scale solar arrays set to take full effect on Oct. 1. BESS batteries are a key component of these arrays, and the expedited process laid out by the state has brought several developers looking to set up in neighboring towns, including Worthington and Plainfield.
Two proposed developments in Worthington remain stalled in meetings. The Plainfield development, which includes 23 acres of solar panels and a BESS system, received approval in December following a months-long saga during which residents objected.
Monday’s meeting in Chesterfield wrapped up at 9:15 p.m., 45 minutes past the projected meeting end time, to ensure that the final draft was ready for a special Town Meeting before Oct. 1.
