Focus
EPA issues battery storage safety guidelines
Power Engineering – August 22
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new battery energy storage system (BESS) safety guidelines on August 18. The guidance aims to provide communities and first responders with best practices for safe BESS installation, operation, and emergency response. EPA claims the new safety guidance represents the first comprehensive federal resource addressing the complete BESS project lifecycle, from siting through emergency response.
News
Solano County updates BESS ordinance
Vacaville Reporter – August 26
The Solano County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on August 19 to approve an amendment to the county’s interim Battery Energy Storage Systems ordinance. The ordinance will now allow BESS proposals in accordance with a variety of safety regulations, but only in land zoned for industrial and manufacturing.
New Jersey kicks off program to deploy 2 GW of energy storage by 2030
Solar Power World – August 22
Governor Phil Murphy on August 22 signed a bill that officially launches the Garden State Energy Storage Program (GSESP). With A5267 now law, the state will move forward with a competitive procurement process for grid-scale energy storage, while using existing funds and avoiding new costs to ratepayers. GSESP is a multi-phase program designed to deploy 2,000 MW of energy storage by 2030, a mandate established by the Clean Energy Act of 2018.
Projects
BOEM halts work on 700 MW Revolution Wind
Utility Dive – August 25
Revolution Wind, a 700 MW offshore wind farm close to being completed and set to supply energy to Rhode Island and Connecticut, stopped work on August 22 in compliance with an order from the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Ørsted, which owns the project in a 50/50 joint venture with Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables, said that the project is fully permitted and 80% complete with “all offshore foundations installed and 45 out of 65 wind turbines installed.”
To combat an energy shortage, Seattle looks to rural Oregon solar farms
The Oregonian – August 24
Seattle’s appetite for electricity is growing, whet by charging stations and data centers, electric buses, and new apartments. Seattle City Light now believes it needs to add more than 1,800 MW of power by 2033 — roughly double what the utility produces today. So, for the first time in its long history, the public utility has begun to look beyond hydro for sources of energy.
Pacifico Energy unveils 5 GW off-grid natural gas project in Texas slated to serve a hyperscale data center
Power Technology – August 21
Pacifico Energy has announced its plans to build the GW Ranch project, an off-grid power generation campus in Pecos County in Texas. The project, designed to support data centers and AI operations, aims to provide 5 GW of power, combining high-efficiency natural gas turbines with 1.8 GW of advanced battery storage.
DOI plans to revoke approval for 2 GW Maryland offshore wind project
OffshoreWind – August 27
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) will seek to cancel its approval of the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) granted to U.S. Wind for its 2 GW Maryland Offshore Wind Project last year. In an August 22 court filing in Delaware, it emerged that the DOI plans to move to vacate the federal approval for the project through a legal proceeding in Maryland.
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