Three months ago, Gov. Maura Healey issued Executive Order No. 654: Establishing an Energy Supply Plan. The executive order promises to “reduce energy bills for Massachusetts residents, promote energy independence… help reduce electricity bills for Massachusetts residents and avoid future price spikes.” Energy prices are still spiking, but you can’t blame our governor for White House tariffs and oil wars.
The governor wants 10 gigawatts (GW) of new energy resources by the end of 2035 — 3.5 GW of that goal will be achieved from new load management strategies, such as virtual power plants, and demand response programs. These are good but Healey added “there shall be an additional goal of 5 GW of energy storage online or under development.”
Nearly 97% of the battery energy storage systems (BESS) being constructed in Massachusetts today use lithium-ion batteries. BESS are being promoted as a replacement for highly polluting peaker plants across the state. I doubt lithium-ion technology will even be used 10 or 20 years from now.
Massachusetts has hung a giant green light across the commonwealth for BESS developers. One such company is Prospect14, a Pennsylvania developer that recently sent emails into Franklin County offering landowners “Guaranteed income: Earn steady income with a battery storage lease.” “With the state’s new clean energy legislation expanding energy storage goals to 5,000 megawatts… there’s never been a better time to put your land to work for a greener future.” Prospect14 offers “25 to 40 years of predictable income from a trusted energy developer.” Battery storage sites are ¼-acre or less — “about the size of a few shipping containers.” You can hide them behind an Arborvitae screen to “blend naturally into the landscape — clean, quiet, and unobtrusive.”
Prospect14 will pay for 100% of any increase in property taxes resulting from the project. One “hypothetical payment table” offered landowners $50,000 in year 1, rising to $108,237 by year 40 — for a grand total of $3.02 million over four decades. If your land is in forest or recreation protection, Prospect14 “will work with you to manage and cover any applicable rollback taxes or penalties for the limited project area.” Prospect14 — or the “project entity” that Project14 sells to — carries “comprehensive insurance throughout the project lifecycle, protecting you from all protect-related liability.” After the Prospect14 lease is over, your land will be “returned to its original condition (or better).”
Some municipalities require a “decommissioning bond” to guarantee removal of the project when done. Prospect14 says it is contractually obligated to pay the bond — “even if the project ownership changes.” The company sells off many of its projects. Of the 3 GW of solar and solar+storage projects built by Prospect14, 1.4 GW have been purchased by other owners, such as energy developers or utility companies.
BESS does not bring “a greener future.” If a BESS becomes overcharged, short circuits, is defective or mechanically damaged, the heat can cause the temperature inside the lithium-ion cells to rise uncontrollably, triggering a “thermal runaway” fire, with “stranded energy” after the fire and causing fire reignition days, or weeks, later. “In the event of a fire at a BESS,” the state warns “instructions from fire officials may involve the evacuation of residents depending upon the scale of the fire.” The state says smoke from lithium-ion fires “always presents a public health risk for the immediate fire scene,” but claims such fires are rare.
The mining and processing of lithium is more environmentally harmful than fracking, explains the Institute for Energy Research. Hydrochloric acid is used in the processing of lithium, and waste products that are filtered out in the brine. In Argentina and Chile lithium operations contaminated streams used for crop irrigation, and left mountains of discarded salt and contaminated canals. The lithium extraction process uses 500,000 gallons of water per metric ton of lithium. It’s ironic we use water-guzzling lithium-ion to help meet the demand created by water-guzzling AI data centers.
BESS are a “by right” zoning use under the state’s “Dover” Amendment (Chapter 40A, s. 3). Religious or educational uses, an accessory dwelling unit, and solar energy installations with BESS that “facilitate the collection of solar energy” — are all “by right” uses.
Of the 10 GW of new power, the governor says 3.5 added GW “should be achieved from new load management strategies, such as virtual power plants… energy efficiency and demand response programs.” This is good. But convincing small landowners they can become millionaires by leasing property to BESS developers is our worst land use nightmare since “cannabis shops on every corner.”
Al Norman’s PUSHBACK column is published in The Recorder every first and third Wednesday of the month.