STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – New York has very ambitious clean energy goals, meaning that the state is going to have to seriously up its ability to generate and store electricity.
That’s where your neighborhood comes in.
Dozens of battery energy storage systems (BESS) sites are proposed for the city, with several of them on Staten Island. Some have already cropped up without warning next to homes or businesses here.
One BESS site is slated to be on eight acres of land on Victory Boulevard in Travis. When complete, it will store enough energy to power 500,000 homes.
That’s a lot of juice for a borough that has just 184,530 housing units, according to U.S. Census data, including 169,528 households.
We were once the city’s dump. Are we now to be its energy-storage mule?
The one site that’s operational in Fox Hills is considered New York City’s largest. It’s on Con Ed property, sandwiched between blocks of residential homes. Another site was dropped between a home and a gas station on Nelson Avenue in Great Kills.
A BESS site was proposed for the parking lot of Our Lady of Pity R.C. Church in Bulls Head before plans were withdrawn in the face of local opposition. Other proposed sites have also fueled opposition.
But with more than a dozen energy companies having filed for permits in the borough and with companies having already bought plots of land, you never know where a BESS site will pop up next.
And that’s a problem because it could get easier yet for these storage facilities to be placed pretty much anywhere.
Under the “City of Yes” carbon neutrality blueprint put out by Mayor Eric Adams, approvals for BESS sites would have fewer zoning limitations, the Advance reported.
Current zoning allows for a maximum BESS site of 10,000 square feet in residential districts through a single special permit. But under the proposed new guidelines, the storage sites would be permitted in a wider range of zoning districts, with only those larger than 10,000 square feet requiring a special permit.
BESS sites would also be without size limits in areas that are considered commercial or manufacturing districts, even if those areas border neighborhoods with schools or homes.
The last thing that Staten Islanders need is diluted zoning restrictions for these sites. Too many people are already waking up to suddenly find a BESS site coming to their neighborhood without warning.
Staten Islanders for decades have railed against single homes being torn down and replaced by multiple-unit dwellings. Now homes could be demolished for battery storage sites that could in the same way destroy the character of residential communities and small-town shopping districts.
And, yes, the safety of these storage units has not been tested over time. Just look at what happened in June in Warwick, N.Y., when storm-related issues caused two BESS units to ignite and burn and spew toxins into the air for more than a week in separate incidents.
And remember: All this is being driven by Democratic mania to eliminate fossil fuels like natural gas in favor of renewable energy and all-electric appliances and heating systems in homes and businesses.
Now we see what the true consequences of green zeal will out of necessity look like. It’s not a pretty picture.
Staten Island getting dumped on again with battery storage sites (opinion)
10
1
07.11.2023
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – New York has very ambitious clean energy goals, meaning that the state is going to have to seriously up its ability to generate and store electricity.
That’s where your neighborhood comes in.
Dozens of battery energy storage systems (BESS) sites are proposed for the city, with several of them on Staten Island. Some have already cropped up without warning next to homes or businesses here.
One BESS site is slated to be on eight acres of land on Victory Boulevard in Travis. When complete, it will store enough energy to power 500,000 homes.
That’s a lot of juice for a borough that has just 184,530 housing units, according to U.S. Census data, including 169,528 households.
We were once the city’s dump. Are we now to be its energy-storage mule?
The one site........
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