The Burlington City Council on Monday unanimously approved plans for a massive new battery energy storage system that is expected to help reduce energy costs and allow the Burlington Electric Department to better weather periods of peak demand.
The city-owned utility plans to install the 5-megawatt battery at the wood-fired McNeil Generating Station in an area where ash byproduct is disposed. The department’s general manager, Darren Springer, said it will be “by far the most significant battery storage” the utility has brought onto its grid. The systems store energy generated by renewable sources and release it back into the grid at times of peak demand.
The city will lease the battery from Massachusetts-based Kearsarge Energy, which will be responsible for maintaining it, while Burlington Electric will be able to control its use. The department did not publicly disclose the terms of the lease, though Springer indicated that Kearsarge was the “lowest-price respondent.”
Burlington Electric’s average hourly load is 37 megawatts. During periods of peak demand, like during summer heatwaves, demand reaches 60 megawatts. The new battery will ease the load by providing an additional 20 megawatts of power over the course of four hours.
While Springer said his department likes to be an early adopter of new technology, they purposefully waited for the economics of the battery storage technology to improve. The battery’s use will likely outweigh its cost over the next five years, Springer said.
The cost-saving potential of battery energy storage systems have made them popular within the industry. However, concerns about the safety of the lithium-ion technology that powers these systems — and occasionally malfunctions to create explosions or toxic fires — have prompted pushback in some places. Seven Days reported in March on community concerns around plans for a similar battery in Vergennes. After fierce resistance, the project was put on hold.
Councilors didn’t ask Springer about safety concerns around the project, and he said he hasn’t fielded any questions from the public. Putting the battery in an isolated area already used for energy production should address some of those concerns, he said. Springer also believes the benefits of the battery outweigh the unlikely event of catastrophic failure.
“When we’re developing projects in Vermont, a lot of times people want to know, ‘If it’s being sited in my community, am I benefiting from it?’ In this case, we’re a municipal utility, so any benefits we see, our ratepayers will see, our community will see,” Springer said.
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