BY STEFANIE JACKSON BOWMANN, Eastern Shore Post —
A company seeking to build a 10-megawatt battery energy storage system in Exmore presented to the town council on Monday, Oct. 7, hoping to sway the council’s opinion after Exmore’s planning commission voted unanimously to deny the company a special-use permit for the project on Sept. 23.
“If you can’t see it, smell it, or hear it, it’s a good project,” said attorney Steve Romine, speaking for Exmore Energy Storage 1, an affiliate of Patterson Enterprises Inc.
Evan Bierman, president of Great Power, the battery supplier for the Exmore project, said his company’s products are manufactured using the latest, safest technologies, unlike a chemical company that has made headlines for disasters such as batteries catching fire.
He said the other company uses 10-year-old technology and makes its batteries with nickel, manganese, and cobalt, which are “toxic,” chemically reactive elements.
Great Power uses iron and graphite in its batteries, which are safer, Bierman said.
He said that instead of grouping the batteries together in a warehouse, each battery is stored in a separate steel container or “lockbox” so that the batteries can’t “talk to each other” and start a runaway fire if a battery short-circuits.
The batteries are subjected to the latest testing methods and certifications, resulting in “the safest battery system ever put in,” Bierman said.
Romine said the purpose of the 10-megawatt battery facility is “energy arbitrage.”
In this process, electricity is purchased and stored when supply is abundant and inexpensive and then sold and resupplied to the grid during peak demand.
Romine said the benefits of the project will include increasing energy storage capacity for emergency use, stabilizing the electrical grid to avoid blackouts and brownouts, and lowering electricity costs for consumers.
He said the battery facility also will economically benefit the town:
n The company will pay Exmore a siting fee of around $200,000 for allowing the facility in the town. The money could be used to support Exmore’s operating budget or capital projects.
n The town also could, as enabled by Virginia Code, adopt an ordinance to receive a revenue share from the battery energy storage system — $1,400 per megawatt, a total of $14,000 annually.
n Exmore will collect more real estate tax if the agricultural-zoned property is converted to commercial use.
n The town will collect business, professional and occupational license, or BPOL, taxes from the facility.
The intended location of the battery energy storage system is on two acres near A&N Electric Cooperative’s Kellam substation.
A Sept. 30 letter from Patterson Enterprises to the Exmore Town Council stated that the Arizona-based company has been in business for 124 years.
The business has provided a variety of services including installing utilities, developing real estate, and building homes, schools, fire stations, and medical facilities.
“In all our years of business, we have never had a major accident or tragedy strike one of our projects,” the letter stated.
