NEW PALTZ – Nearly 150 labor, civic and economic development leaders from a cross section of industries convened at the SUNY New Paltz campus on Thursday to learn more about battery energy storage systems (BESS).
The first ever Hudson Valley Energy Storage Summit took place just as a proposed battery storage facility slated for a site just over a mile away remains hanging in the balance.
Doreen Harris, President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), says the demand for electricity in New York is the reason we need increased battery energy storage.
Harris admits that energy storage carries risks like many other energy facilities but says those risks must be managed.
“Governor Hochul has set a very high bar for storage siting. We have some of the most robust energy safety codes in the nation. Others are following us,” said Harris. “We have a high standard for technology, for siting, for safety and, ultimately, anyone across the state should know that New York is leading the way on battery energy storge safety, and that we have brought the industry to a point where they can feel confident that the technologies we’re installing are to the highest standards.”
Harris said, “As the state’s energy authority, I’m here to say that systems are valuable irrespective of the composition of our electric grid. They’re valuable from the perspective of reliability. They’re valuable from the perspective of reducing cost to consumers and critical as part of an energy system that we’re increasingly relying on for our economic growth as a state.”
In 2024, the New York Public Service Commission raised the state’s energy storage target to 6,000 megawatts by 2030.
Harris says that, to date, New York has installed more than 500 megawatts of storage capacity with an additional 2 gigawatts under development.
The summit reinforced the notion that energy storage strengthens grid reliability, stabilizes costs, supports good-paying union jobs, and advances regional economic and climate goals.
“When a company is deciding whether to expand here or somewhere else, one of the first questions they ask is about power. Can they count on it, and what is it going to cost,” said Mike Oates, President and CEO of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation. “Battery storage helps make the grid our employers already rely on more dependable, and that kind of certainty is what keeps investment flowing into the region. From where I sit, this is critical infrastructure the Hudson Valley should be saying yes to.”
Opponents to battery storage facilities raise concerns about fire safety, toxic emissions, the environmental impact and land use.
Last month, the Ulster County Legislature put the brakes on a resolution to have the county act as the lead agency for the construction of a proposed battery energy storage system on Paradies Lane New Paltz.
In 2023, after fire incidents at energy storage facilities in Jefferson, Orange and Suffolk Counties, the Governor created a nation-leading inter-agency fire safety working group.
John D’Alessandro is Secretary of the Firefighters Association of New York State (FASNY), which represents volunteer firefighters, and attended the summit to learn more about battery energy storage facilities.
“I understand some of the concerns that communities have with storage systems. Unfortunately, a lot of those concerns are generated by misinformation or the lack of information,” said D’Alessandro. “There certainly have been issues with some of these facilities, but they are few and far between. That’s why we, as first responders, have to be ready when the few and far between happens. It’s really not different from a chemical plant or a manufacturing facility, many of which are all around the state, including the Hudson Valley. There just has to be a constant dialogue between the developer and the community where the project will happen.”
“There are clearly still remaining questions and concerns that we should be thinking about in order to move us forward, while having safeguards,” said New York State Assemblywoman Didi Barrett. (D, 106). “We also need the confidence from our communities to protect people’s lives, their lifestyle, their property value, all these things that communities care about. The Hudson Valley with its wide-open spaces is bucolic, and it’s easy to target our area. We have to protect it.”
The state’s energy storage goals are projected to reduce New York’s electric system costs by nearly $2 billion by 2050.
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