Now that the process for obtaining a permit for a home solar installation is streamlined, Town of New Paltz volunteers are focusing on the next step: battery storage. Volunteers on the Battery Energy Storage System Task Force have hammered out a proposed process for home batteries to store excess juice, and will next work on rules for larger, commercial systems.
Task force representative Joseph Londa briefed town council members at their October 6 meeting. The 1,000 megawatt cap was set at the state level, where the push is to have many of these storage systems available by 2025. This smallest size of batteries is designated as “tier 1,” and to make it easier to install them a model law was created to be adopted in local municipalities. That should prevent the initial weirdness that happened with solar permits, for which rules were developed independently for each…
Town Board reviews battery energy storage plans
