Brookhaven to restart reviews of applications for battery-storage facilities next year

Amid deep pockets of political and community opposition but an unexpected green light from the federal government, Brookhaven Town next year will restart the process of reviewing battery-energy storage-plant applications after new state safety codes go into effect Jan. 1.

At the Brookhaven Landfill, where a solar plant is now producing power and more than 60% of the facility is capped in anticipation of its closure in 2028, Supervisor Dan Panico said earlier this week that the town won’t be swayed by opposition to the battery facilities, but rather will consider scientific facts about their need and safety.

"We will evaluate each application as they come," said Panico, adding the town also will "actively bring in and seek more information" about the plants, which have received heightened concerns following a fire at one of the nation’s largest in Monterey, California, in January.

Developers have earmarked Long Island for dozens of the plants, which house hundreds of thousands of individual lithium-ion battery cells in container farms to store power from new green-energy sources and power plants. Gov. Kathy Hochul has designated the plants as a key part of her vision for a carbon-free power grid over the next two decades, but opponents have battled the plants over safety concerns.

"The 800-pound gorilla ... is the apprehension people have in the days that unfolded after Moss Landing," referring to the fire in Monterey, Panico said. "That system is very different from that which would be proposed in this area. It’s older technology that is not built anymore."

Brookhaven is one of the few towns across Long Island that has not declared a moratorium on battery-energy storage plants, and at least eight separate projects have been proposed for the town, Newsday has reported. One plant built on a town facility in Patchogue is expected to be operational soon, Panico said, while another 110-megawatt facility in Holtsville has already received a clearing permit and begun some preliminary work.

Meanwhile, the New York Power Authority is eyeing its nearby power plant property in Holtsville for a 170-megawatt battery and other plants are proposed for Setauket, Medford, Yaphank, Port Jefferson Station and Shoreham.

"I don’t want to prejudge an application," Panico said. "I want to hear from the folks who will come out from the neighborhood," including the proposed plant in Holtsville. "I think you could make a case that that [Holtsville] property may be situated quite well," Panico said. "Others may argue quite differently."

One staunch opponent is Fran Lunati, a Holbrook resident who has led opposition to plants in Brookhaven and Islip towns. She said she plans to organize forceful opposition to Panico’s plans.

"Where they say this is a safe place or a good place, I say absolutely not," said Lunati, who attended a Monday presentation by Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin and later sent him petitions with 3,000 signatures in opposition to the plants. "If there was a massive fire, no way would it be safe. Absolutely not."

On Long Island, a number of civic groups and residents who live around proposed battery-storage projects have expressed opposition to the facilities, citing the potential for lithium-ion fires. Opposition to a plant at Glenwood Landing likely contributed to the developer’s decision this summer to withdraw plans for that plant.

A proposed Hauppauge battery is opposed by the Hauppauge Fire District, which has said the location is not appropriate given the proximity to nearby homes and a school.

Lunati said she was stunned by the federal government’s apparent support of batteries. 

Zeldin, the former Long Island state legislator and congressman, stood at a podium fitted with a sign that said, "No BESS in Hauppauge" to release new federal guidelines for the systems. But he stopped short of saying the federal government would issue hard-and-fast regulations on the systems, saying instead his agency was offering "technical expertise that we have if, God forbid, there is a lithium-ion fire."

There were three such fires across the state, including in East Hampton, in 2023, leading Hochul to form a task force that hardened state fire codes, which will go into effect in January. 

Panico said he hadn’t heard Zeldin’s specific remarks about the guidelines, but noted that from a broader perspective, "if the federal government was opposed to battery-energy storage they would have nixed the tax credits." Instead, federal tax credits for battery plants were allowed to continue through 2033.

The continuation of the credits is "something I cannot underscore enough," Panico said. "We’re sitting here because the federal government in the Big Beautiful Bill purposely allowed these [batteries] to continue."

Brookhaven under Panico and former Supervisor Edward P. Romaine have welcomed green-energy projects, including the Sunrise Wind farm that promises upward of $130 million in tax benefits once complete in 2027. Panico stressed the batteries have benefits beyond a place to store wind power.

"We’re not keeping an open mind on batteries just because we were accepting of the Sunrise Wind cable," which could deliver excess power to the local grid when demand is lower. "We recognize the limitations of the grid," which batteries could help bolster.

Brookhaven on Tuesday also announced it has completed the latest phase of the plan to cap its landfill, increasing the current cap on the facility to around 60%. The latest phase of 23.5 acres included use of a new astro-turf-like surface of the landfill above a thick synthetic liner that will cut costs by limiting vegetation, leachate and maintenance. The surface doesn’t need to be mowed, trees will be prevented from growing on it and animals such as turkeys won’t be tempted to dig into surface soil, said Christine Fenton, commissioner for recycling and sustainable materials management.

The work included the installation of 11 new gas extraction wells under the newly capped area, said Daniel Johnson, chief deputy commissioner of the town’s department of recycling and sustainable materials management. The entire facility produces some 750-850 cubic feet of methane and other bio-gases per minute, all of it flared, or burned at a facility on site, he said. (Impurities and fluctuations in the gas make it impractical for energy production or sale, he said.) 

The latest phase of capping cost $8.7 million, helped in part by a federal grant, Panico said. All of the landfill will be capped by closure in 2028.

Panico said most of the capped areas will be outfitted with solar panels, where feasible, a "good reuse of the property." He said Brookhaven Town board members are "believers in science and using science to better serve the residents of the town."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.