Please Press Pause

As the nation and the state turn more toward sustainable energy solutions, there’s bound to be some growing pains.

Such is the case with a rash of applications for battery energy storage systems (BESS) across the East End. The facilities employ a fairly new technology and come with inherent fears about fire and fire suppression drawn from national and regional headlines, which depict battery fires (mostly in electric vehicles) burning for hours, difficult to extinguish.

The facilities are meant to capitalize on the growing solar and wind electric generation projects and are needed to store the power generated by those facilities until it is needed by the electric grid. The state has been pushing for the creation of the facilities as it moves to meet higher green power standards.

BESS facilities are going to be necessary to harness the electricity produced by the solar and wind projects, and community members can expect to see the number of applications by private developers hoping to build them grow quickly. Two proposals have been introduced in Southampton Town, with the promise of more on the way. A handful of proposals have also been put forward on the North Fork.

Southampton Town officials are considering a moratorium on BESS applications, and the Town of Southold last month approved a similar moratorium while it considers zoning changes to help regulate such facilities. Southampton shouldn’t hesitate to enact its moratorium as officials strive to learn more about how they work and explore any possible dangers they might pose.

At a recent Town Planning Board public hearing on a current proposal to build a facility with 30 battery enclosures on nearly 5 acres off North Road in Hampton Bays, board members readily admitted that they had a lot to learn about the technology — and had significant concerns about possible dangers, even though it was made clear that the lithium ion batteries that led to explosions and dramatic fires of cars and e-bikes, aren’t the same kind as those at BESS facilities.

There’s no doubt that such facilities are going to be necessary sooner rather than later and will have a positive impact by contributing to the green/sustainable energy movement. At the same time, it’s reasonable for our elected and appointed officials to take the time they need to learn about this new technology and how to mitigate any potential dangers it may pose.

Officials should excitedly get up to speed and quickly become experts on the facilities in order to usher in a new age of sustainable energy. But there’s no shame in taking a pause by enacting a moratorium while they do so.