Battery Energy Storage System Proposed at Power Plant Site

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Bear Peak Power, a national solar and energy storage developer out of Denver, CO, is proposing a battery energy storage system (BESS) on a portion of the site of the former Cayuga Power Plant in the Town of Lansing.

Ben Broder, Director of Development and Policy Strategy for Bear Peak Power, presented the company’s project to the town board on July 19. Bear Peak Power is looking to construct a BESS that would discharge 200 megawatts for a four-hour duration, which would power roughly 100,000 homes during that time period.

Bear Peak does not control the entire site of the former power plant, and only plans on using 5.7 acres of it.

“Right now, we’ve entered into a lease option with the Cayuga Operating Company for the purpose of developing and ultimately constructing this battery energy storage system,” Broder said.

Broder described the system as similar to a data center, though instead of there being computers inside there would be batteries.

“These systems are composed of at the smallest level battery cells, which are then … put together into modules, which are about the size of about an ice pack, I suppose you could say,” he said. “Those are then on racks, and then those racks are in stacks.”

“Inside each container there’s a battery management system that is monitoring for safety at 24/7, 365, and there’s interconnection equipment as well – inverters,” he said.

The company plans to connect to the existing substation on site. According to Broder, BESS would consist of several battery energy storage containers, which would reach up to 115 kilovolts and interconnect at the existing substation.

Broder said the purpose of these systems is to “defer costly upgrades to transmission and distribution infrastructure, which instead of being undertaken by the utility- and rate-based are essentially undertaken by [Bear Peak Power] instead.”

“They provide key grid services, such as frequency regulation and spinning reserves,” he said. “They support the integration of renewable energy generators, including solar and wind. They alleviate congestion in the grid, reducing brownouts and blackouts. Smaller systems provide electric bill management and backup power for homes and businesses.”

On the economic side of the proposed project, construction of the BESS would produce about 170 construction jobs. Five to 10 part-time workers would be operating the system once it is up and running. Broder said the company will look to source materials locally. The same goes for equipment, so long as “market conditions allow,” according to Broder.

The payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) benefits are estimated at $300,000. Bear Peak Power would also enter a Host Community Agreement with the town. Host Community Agreements provide an economic benefit to a municipality to compensate for any theoretical impacts to the town that may be resulting from the project.

As for the project’s time table, Broder said the company plans to submit its interconnection request to the state by the end of July. If approved, the interconnection process would take approximately 18 months to complete. He said the company plans to construct and finish the BESS by the second quarter of 2026.

Town board members had the opportunity following Broder’s presentation to ask him questions about the project. Councilperson Ruth Groff asked how much noise the system would create, to which Broder said about 60 decibels when one stands right next to it.

“There’s really nothing around [the site],” Broder said. “The only nearby structure is the decommissioned coal plant. There’s really nothing within several thousand feet. This will not be audible for any house or structure.”

Groff also asked if the project would include a cooling system that would involve water from Cayuga Lake. Broder said the project would not use such a cooling system, and instead use a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

Councilperson Joe Wetmore raised a couple of concerns, one being that there are shipping containers being proposed on the site, which are not permitted in the town’s zoning code.

“What I see here would not be allowed under our zoning code,” Wetmore said. “It’s anything that can be put on a truck and looks like a shipping container is not allowed, certainly not in the quantity that you want to put there.”

Broder said it will be up to the town planning board to determine what their true purpose is.

“Depending on how that’s applied with the planning board, there’s different interpretations of whether these are actually considered to be storage containers, or if they just have some resemblance to them,” he said.

Wetmore also mentioned that those types of containers typically emit toxic gasses such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide, and asked whether or not the containers proposed for this project would emit such gasses.

Broder did not give a direct answer, stating that this project would be subject to a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR).

“It’ll include any review of any impacts to air quality or anything like that,” Broder said. “I’m confident that this, like other projects in the state, will get permitted and receive a negative declaration under that review.”

Wetmore pressed him again on the matter, asking him to clarify whether or not he was saying that the containers would emit toxic gasses. Broder said he did not say they would emit toxic gasses, but did not confirm whether or not that would be the case.

“These will not have an environmental impact that is considered to be a negative impact by any of the agencies which are charged with conducting that review,” Broder said.

Later, Town Supervisor Ed LaVigne asked if any prior BESS projects Broder has been involved with in New York received a declaration that toxic fumes would be emitted, to which Broder said no projects that he’s worked on have received such a declaration.

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They seriously want to install 800 megawatt watt hours of energy storage on that site? How is this even economically feasible? Let me guess; government subsidies...

Aren't batteries toxic to the environment from mining their raw materials, manufacturing them, and finally disposing and/or recycling them? Wouldn't it have just been better to retrofit the decomissioned coal plant to instead burn natural gas? What about converting it to an incinerator or building in its place a modern small nuclear reactor that could utilize the existing transmission line infrastructure?

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