Despite warnings of energy shortages, Hamilton County rejects plans for battery storage plant

Indianapolis Star

4 days ago

An energy company is mum on whether it will appeal a zoning board's rejection of a battery storage complex in rural Hamilton County near the White River, but warned that the county could soon face a dire energy supply shortage.
That means even if Aypa Power doesn't appeal the decision, a similar facility could pop up elsewhere in the county.
The Hamilton County Board of Zoning Appeals voted unanimously to deny Aypa Power a land use change that would allow the Kingfisher Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to move forward on 70 acres of farmland at 21598 Overdorf Road.
Aypa asserted the storage was needed to answer increased energy demand as the county is being developed. The power from gas, solar and wind sources would be sent to the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO) grid when needed at times of high consumption such as heat waves.
'We need infrastructure growth to meet business growth and an energy shortfall in the MISO territory, ' Aypa lead developer Brandon Grahman told the board.
The rows of tall container cubes would use lithium batteries to store enough electricity to power 60,000 homes for four hours. That stoked the fears of residents nearby who said the risk of environmental and health damage caused if a fire broke out made the plant unsafe. The lithium batteries burn for a long time and can be difficult to extinguish; a fire in a California battery plant in January burned for three days.
'Our current fire department is not equipped to have a fire that involves this complex industrial technology,' said Alicia Kiovsky, of Arcadia, at the recent BZA meeting. 'We should not approve a project that puts first responders and the community at risk.'
Sondra Pearson, who lives in a cluster of homes blocks from the proposed site, said a tornado could pick up the boxes and drop them anywhere.
'Hazardous components will leak in the soil,' she said. 'It is an unsafe environment for the species that live there and the humans that live there.'
Noblesville resident Danny Ariaga said he worried that the county did not have qualified inspectors to make sure the company was complying with the terms of operation, such as the voltage and amount of energy being stored.
'What effect will they have on the White River and wells? he asked. 'It is about preserving the safety, beauty and character of our rural community.'
Though the plant would be on land that is currently zoned for agriculture, a Duke Energy substation is already nearby, next to the proposed site. Grahman said that makes sending power to the grid easier, faster and safer and the storage containers would be non-intrusive.
'This is using zero panels and zero wind turbines,' Grahman said. 'We need infrastructure growth to meet business growth and an energy shortfall in the MISO territory.'
Aypa has two other battery storage projects in Indiana, in Jefferson and Decatur counties.
The BZA's staff had recommended that the board approve the plan but the panel's members appeared concerned about safety during questioning.
Grahman told them that the company would supervise emergency training and had one training session already and a couple of meetings with local fire departments and emergency management employees. He said the high-profile Moss Landing fire in California, at a facility owned by Vistra Corp., was made worse because of improper planning by the company.
'It was a blueprint for how you do not want to construct and battery storage system,' he said.
Moss Landing was indoors with all the battery containers under one roof and nothing to stop the fire from spreading, Grahman said. The Hamilton County project would have have separate containers so fires would be restricted to them. Vistra also used a more volatile battery type, which wouldn't be used here, Grahman said.
All four board members voted against the zoning variance, with two saying it didn't comply with the county's long range comprehensive plan.
The company can appeal the decision to the Hamilton County Superior Court but officials declined to answer IndyStar inquiries into whether it planned to do so.
Could energy shortage lead to rolling blackouts?
In a recent report, MISO said its 14-state region could face a shortage of 32% of needed power by 2040. That could lead to rolling blackouts of three to four hours, 13 to 26 days a year.
'Such interruptions would most likely occur after sunset on hot summer days with low wind output and on cold winter days before sunrise and after sunset,' concluded the report, titled 'MISO's Response to the Reliability Imperative,' released in February 2024.
Kerwin Olsen, executive director of the utility watchdog group Citizens Action Coalition agreed there is a need for energy storage — and it is growing more urgent because of the proliferation of data processing centers in Indiana.
'It's all connected,' he said. 'The centers and AI (artificial intelligence) will substantially increase energy demand.'
The CAC has called for a moratorium on approval of the data centers, which use an inordinate amount of electricity to operate and water to cool the plants. The center's hoarding of utilities could force other economic development projects to be delayed or scrapped. The centers themselves provide few jobs, though they get large tax subsidies, the CAC said.
At leas t 20 data centers are either under construction or have been proposed in Indiana, including those in Boone, Hendricks, Morgan and Hancock counties. Google is building a center in Fort Wayne and plans one on the southside of Indianapolis.
Citing a study by Indiana Michigan Power, Olsen's organization said the data centers will use more electricity per year by 2030 (35 million MWh per year) than all 6.8 million Hoosiers use in their homes today.
Olsen said the risk of fires at battery storage plants are relatively minor and get overblown and 'exploited by the anti-renewable crowd,' because they store mostly wind and solar energy in reserve.
Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt said the public needs to get 'educated' on the need for energy storage.
'The energy needs need to be conveyed better,' said Heirbrandt, a water and energy industry consultant. 'Once they see that they are losing power during high usage they'll see we don't have enough.'
But Heirbrandt said the BZA made the right call in this case.
'I don't think the company showed why it needed to happen there,' he said. 'We'll end up putting something somewhere.'