Madison County commission votes against battery energy storage facility

Madison County’s Planning Commission has given a unanimous unfavorable recommendation for zoning changes to allow a proposed battery energy storage facility.  IPR’s Thomas Ouellette reports.

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00;00;00;00 - 00;00;19;03 Thomas Ouellette Developers with Jupiter Power want to build two battery energy storage system facilities in the county. As part of hours of deliberation, Nat Drucker with Jupiter Power addressed several concerns from residents, like capping the number of total batteries, draining water to an independent system, and taking precautions against fire. 00;00;19;10 - 00;00;32;26 Nat Drucker So we hope that all this shows and demonstrates that we are absolutely willing to work with people and working to do this better, and to provide this very important piece of infrastructure that is going to help keep this county and this part of Indiana moving forward. 00;00;32;27 - 00;00;42;12 Thomas Ouellette Despite that new information, members of the public remained firmly against the battery storage facility. Former Madison County Council member Ben Gale was among them. 00;00;42;16 - 00;00;52;26 Ben Gale So the numbers were seeing up here. I don't buy them. I've been through the process before. I see how it works, and the promises made up front are never what ends up working. 00;00;52;29 - 00;01;03;10 Thomas Ouellette After the unfavorable recommendation, the project will now move to the county commissioners to consider and vote on the rezoning request. I'm Thomas Ouellette in Anderson.

Developers with Jupiter Power want to build two battery energy storage system facilities in the county.  Battery storage facilities hold surplus energy from a local power grid in large lithium batteries until it’s needed in times of peak power use. These kinds of facilities do not generate any power on their own.

As part of hours of deliberation, Nat Drucker with Jupiter Power addressed several concerns from residents – like capping the number of total batteries, draining water to an independent system, and taking precautions against fire.

“We hope that all of this shows and demonstrates that we are absolutely willing to work with people.” Drucker said. “And we’re working to do this better, and to provide this very important piece of infrastructure that is going to help keep this county, and this part of Indiana, moving forward.”

The rezoning was proposed last month with the planning commission, but Jupiter Power developers at that meeting requested a continuance to better respond to concerns and questions.

Despite that new information, members of the public remained firmly against the battery storage facility.

Former Madison County Council member Ben Gale was among them.

“So the numbers we’re seeing up here, I don’t buy them,” he said. “I’ve been through the process before, I see how it works, and the promises made up front are never what ends up working.”

Officials with Jupiter Power say neither project involves a large building.  The sites instead feature “container-based” energy storage.

After the unfavorable recommendation, the project will now move to the county commissioners to consider and vote on the rezoning request.

If it were to be approved in Madison County, Jupiter Power says the first site, Liberty 1, would start construction in 2027 and be operational in 2028. Indiana Michigan Power has an agreement with Jupiter Power to purchase the battery storage facility upon its completion.

The second site, Liberty 2, is significantly bigger, and has a longer development time. No long-term ownership of the site has been determined yet.

Thomas Ouellette is our reporter and producer. Contact him at thomas.ouellette@bsu.edu.