Solar Notches Some Local Wins While Battery Storage Hears Boos

1. Hampden County, Massachusetts – Disgruntled residents in the small city of Westfield have won their fight against a Jupiter Power battery storage project.

• City leadership announced that after the battery storage proposal was “unanimously panned,” the company decided to withdraw from developing the project. Apparently, legacy PFAS contamination at the potential construction site was a reason for the outcry.

2. Staten Island, New York – Speaking of people booing battery storage, the battle over BESS on Staten Island is potentially turning into major litigation.

• Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella – who eagle-eyed Fight readers will remember I’ve previously interviewed about BESS – disclosed last week that his office will file a lawsuit to try and block new projects in the borough.
• The potential lawsuit arrives as state legislators representing Staten Island this week claim to have successfully stopped regulatory approvals for a Hecate battery storage proposal in the borough.

3. Montgomery County, Maryland – County planners have approved a small solar farm on agricultural lands in the small D.C. exurb of Rockville surprising even the project’s developer Chaberton Energy.

• As a Rockville native, however, this doesn’t surprise me. My home town has a very strong liberal bent but has recently undergone a rapid expansion in housing and urban development, indicating a low risk for NIMBYs gumming up the works.
• This is echoed in Heatmap Pro data, which shows Rockville has a high renewable energy support score and a low risk for opposition.

4. Mecklenburg County, Virginia – A 90-acre RWE solar project has been rejected for the second time by county officials despite the developer slimming down the project size in response to local complaints.

• This RWE effort, dubbed the Antlers Road solar farm, has been in the works for years. But it hasn’t been approved yet due to a county ordinance that put a cap on the acreage allowed for solar projects – which RWE has sued to try and kill, arguing it is arbitrary and capricious.

5. Licking County, Ohio – The Ohio Supreme Court is allowing Open Road Renewables’ utility-scale Harvey Solar project to proceed over objections from angry neighbors.

• In an opinion issued this week, justices ruled unanimously that the Ohio Public Siting Board complied with the law when it approved Harvey Solar, finding the points raised by residents who appealed the decision “lack merit.”

6. Adams County, Illinois – It’s not all sunshine and roses in the Midwest though, as even a relatively tiny solar farm is struggling to get approval in rural Illinois.

• Residents of the small town of Ursa appear to be up in arms over a 4-acre project proposed by Greenkey Solar, citing fears about property values, visual impacts, and potential implications for wildlife.

7. Pierce County, Wisconsin – An AES utility-scale solar farm is getting significant pushback from surrounding residents over farmland impacts.

• The angst over the Isabelle Creek solar project can be seen in media coverage and an online petition garnering almost 500 signatures against it – a significant total for such a rural area of the Badger State.
• This is despite the company saying it would impact land “equivalent to .4% of farmland in Pierce County.”

8. Dickinson County, Iowa – Invenergy has removed some turbines from its Red Rock Wind Energy Center in a bid to try and overcome a vocal contingent of opposition in the county.

• I’m bearish on this strategy working, as Heatmap Pro data indicates a 97% opposition score – meaning the folks who hate wind may be systemic and not just go away with a slimmed-down project design.

9. Cedar County, Iowa – Elsewhere in the Hawkeye State, an Iowa farmer is suing Nordex claiming that a wind turbine fire damaged his wheat crop.

• I have been seeing this article make the rounds on anti-renewables Facebook and it would not surprise me if the concept of wind turbine fires and farmland impacts become a point raised by opponents in the weeks and months to come.

10. Lincoln County, Oklahoma – A battery storage facility proposed by Black Mountain is the subject of an investigative news article about opposition to BESS in Oklahoma.

• The article claims the opposition is recruiting allies from the broader anti-renewables grassroots in Oklahoma, including the activists we profiled earlier this year fighting to ban new renewables projects in the state.

11. Santa Barbara County, California – The backlash to the Moss Landing battery fire has now led the central coast city of Santa Maria to ban new battery storage facilities.

• Per a local news account, the ordinance effectively banning BESS was drafted after the fire and ahead of any potential proposals coming to the city limits.