Objections from neighbours notwithstanding, Greater Napanee council gave the thumbs up to three separate battery energy storage systems (BESS) at last week’s meeting.
The decision came two weeks after council spent a large part of their previous meeting hearing reasons from residents as to why they shouldn’t support it. After making note of the objections and with two weeks to think about it, council went ahead with the staff recommendation to approve them all-though it should be stated councillors Dave Pinnell Jr and Angela Hicks did vote against two of the three proposals.
Before going any further, let it be reiterated this vote wasn’t the be all, end all on the matter. Support from a municipality is but one of many steps a BESS proposal needs before it can get approval from the province to actually break ground and allow construction to commence. It is however a big step forward for any company hoping to secure a contract-and on the flip side, a no vote would have all but ended the project.
Focusing strictly on the ‘pros’ for a moment, the sudden interest in growth and development for Greater Napanee means the potential for more dollars for the township. Unfortunately a community can’t pick which industry shows interest in its properties. In some cases they can say no, but when it comes to the initial interest, they have to react as opposed to being proactive. In today’s economic climate any potential for additional revenue has to at least be heard.
That said, any counter points from residents need to be heard as well. Which brings us to the ‘cons’.
It’s not hard to see why those who live close to the proposed sites are concerned. The list of 63 documented BESS fires in the U.S. since 2011 are enough to raise some eyebrows-though Greater Napanee Fire chief Bill Hammond says those fires are usually as a result of human error dealing with new technology. Those that live close to the sites argue this technology is ‘still’ new and unknown. Concerns for the environment in the event of a fire or leak-given its proximity to water-have also been raised to council. Such a disaster would no doubt be a major contradiction to the ‘green energy’ benefits that a BESS would offer.
Perhaps the potential for neighbouring land being developed is luck of the draw when it comes to buying rural property-but it’s hard not to feel for those who have owned there for years and had no inkling something like this could one day pop up in their backyard.
While every resident benefits from the tax dollars brought in from a new industry, those nearest the site are shouldering a much bigger burden of risk.
Though council has cast its vote, this is a complex issue that isn’t going to go away anytime soon. As it stands, the matter is out of council’s hands for now. A rejection from the upper levels of government might not be ideal for everyone, but it would make a lot of issues moot.
-Adam Prudhomme