“A pair of Schenectady County, N.Y., Republican lawmakers are calling for a countywide moratorium on the construction of battery energy storage systems, citing the potential for emergencies at the facilities that they say local fire departments are unprepared to handle.
Legislators Eric Hess and Josh Cuomo of District 4 are calling for a 12-month moratorium on the construction and siting of battery energy storage systems as a way “to protect and ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of Schenectady County residents and first responders.”
Safety around the systems — which store excess energy captured by renewable sources like solar arrays and wind turbines — has been a topic of discussion throughout New York in recent months after four of the systems caught fire earlier this year throughout the state. Gov. Kathy Hochul, in July, announced an inter-agency fire safety working group that will be tasked with investigating the fires and developing recommendations.”
read the entire article
Arnold, Chad. Schenectady Daily Gazette 1 November 2023.