State fire safety group to release report before year’s end
By Gwendolyn Craig
In light of a proposed microgrid in Raquette Lake, the Adirondack Park Agency is creating an energy storage application it hopes will address fire and safety concerns when such a project falls under its jurisdiction.
The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) application aligns with Gov. Kathy Hochul convening an interagency fire safety working group in July to investigate multiple energy storage fires in Jefferson, Suffolk and Orange counties, said David Plante, APA’s deputy director for regulatory programs. The July fire in Jefferson County’s town of Lyme, about 90 miles west of the Adirondack Park, had residents sheltering in place to keep from breathing toxic fumes.
The working group expects to release a report before the end of the year and recommendations for fire code adjustments in early 2024, according to a spokesperson with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
The APA, which oversees public and private development in the park, plans to release its new application in the next few weeks, Plante told agency board members on Thursday.
“Most of the energy storage companies have halted development and permitting of their energy storage projects across New York, including those within the Adirondack Park, until formal recommendations are developed by the state working group, ” Plante said.
Raquette Lake is a hamlet in the town of Long Lake and has experienced numerous power outages. The town’s comprehensive plan included the construction of a battery energy storage system, or microgrid, to help residents keep power. But following a proposal for such a project by Rev Renewables in tandem with National Grid, residents expressed safety concerns.
In October, the town board passed a year-long moratorium of energy storage system permits. The APA does not have any jurisdiction over that proposed project at this time, Plante said. It is in a hamlet, a zoning classification where the APA has less oversight and development is encouraged.
There are no storage system requests before the APA currently, Plante said. He hopes the new application will prepare staff for “when they do in fact come to us.” Plante gave board members a preview of some of the information the agency will require including:
- Design of the system;
- Documentation and designs for fire code compliance;
- Secondary containment for chemicals utilized by the energy storage system;
- Safety and security plans, including emergency response plans.
The state’s “working group is currently performing the emergency response analysis” and “is seeking access to the results of the root cause analyses, currently being performed by the original equipment manufacturers for each storage system affected” by fires, a NYSERDA spokesperson said. “Inspections of other commercial battery storage facilities across the state are in progress, and recommendations related to those inspections will be released in 2024.”
The state’s working group includes representatives from the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Service’s Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Public Service, Department of State and NYSERDA.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a photo and link to the Long Lake comprehensive plan.
The town’s comprehensive plan included the construction of a battery energy storage system, or microgrid, to help residents keep power
This statement is absolutely NOT true and completely misleading.. The comprehensive plan does NOT mention anything specific, and certainly does NOT mention a “micro grid” and/or a battery energy storage system. Safety is only one of many concerns, including wetlands, environmental issues, wildlife, evacuation, trained personnel to fight a runaway and many others. Perhaps a conversation with the fire chief Mark Bird or members of Protectraquette.com would be helpful.
See update in the story with link to the town’s plan
Initially, I poo-pooed concerns about fires. But there have been a number of them around the country so they need to be made safer.
Please add a link to the moratorium.
This document is not intended to serve as a “silver bullet”that will resolve all the issues facing Long Lake.
So what good is the 155 pages? What it will do is make the already wealthy Chazen Companies / Behan Planning and Design even wealthier off of taxpayer money. Its sad to think what will happen to the Adirondacks once these power companies sink their teeth into these small towns and ruin what nature has given us.
This is the quote you shared from the Town’s comprehensive plan: “The Town should CONSIDER using generators, solar, and battery cells.Currently, the Townis in comversations with National Grid about the POSSIBILITY of using new high-capacity battery cells as backup power supplies. The Town SHOULD diligently pursue ongoing coordination with National Grid to ensure that this project moves forward.” That sounds nothing like what you wrote in your article: ” The town’s comprehensive plan included the construction of a battery energy storage system, or microgrid, to help residents keep power. But following a proposal for such a project by Rev Renewables in tandem with National Grid, residents expressed safety concerns.” You put your own spin on it, just like all reporters do.
It is a good thing that the APA would provide strict requirements for ANY battery storage system anywhere it has jurisdiction. Better yet, it should blanket forbid current technologies anywhere in the Park. The Raquette Lake experiment was ill conceived from the start and rightly met with fierce opposition from village residents. Hopefully it will die a well-deserved death. The companies involved had clearly done little research and had no idea what environment they planned to ruin. They got an education from the public!
This article quotes the original position of the Town of Long Lake, (several years ago) and not it’s current position which reflects the opinion of it’s residents. It would be foolhardy for these companies to continue to consider this site for their commercial benefit.
As stated in other comments…….your quote is NOT true! It seems like reporting has bias these days and not facts! Spin it to suit an agenda……? Stick to the facts and get them straight. Reporting should be just that not spin. If the APA’s job is to protect our pristine 6 million acre heavily wooded park and enormous watershed, it should never allow any such installations in the Adirondack Park!
Amen to that!
Hopefully the APA restrictions will be as strict as necessary with at least 40 acre lot sizes like housing density guidelines currently in law !
In the long run it would be SAFER, cleaner, more reliable, and much cheaper to install modern gas generators for emergency power. Especially since they can easily be converted to hydrogen when it becomes available in the not to distant future.