<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1fwxcW_1H4fShXa00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1fwxcW_1H4fShXa00" width="375" height="327" ><figcaption>The battery-energy storage system</figcaption></figure>NEW SCOTLAND — The much-less maligned battery-energy storage system proposed for Plug Power’s campus in Slingerlands is all but assured after the project received a key environmental approval from the New Scotland Planning Board earlier this month.The board on Nov. 4 adopted a negative declaration under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, meaning it will not require an environmental impact statement from project developer Adaptive Infrastructure Partners.AIP is seeking a special-use permit to install the 4.5-megawatt system at 125 Vista Blvd in the Vista Technology Park.The three-container facility to be located on seven leased acres within the campus has a listed storage capacity of approximately 15 megawatt-hours, enough energy to power a single American home for 17 months or about 3,000 homes for 4 hours.The Vista site has drawn less opposition than the battery system proposed for Wormer Road, land owned by Councilman Adam Greenberg; several Wormer Road residents told the town board last month they did not oppose the Vista proposal.The Slingerlands fire chief, Craig Sleurs, has said his department is on board with the Vista project whereas the New Salem fire chief, Steve Ayers, says he opposes the Wormer Road project.But the Vista project is not without critics, as a handful pressed the planning board on Nov. 4 about water, smoke, and evacuation.<h2>Fire and water</h2>In an Oct. 28 response to public and board questions, AIP described a defensive firefighting approach in which the affected container would be isolated, allowed to burn, with water applied to neighboring equipment to keep the fire from spreading.AIP’s containment analysis uses a six-hour fire scenario without spread to adjoining battery containers, citing fire testing in which, according to the company, visible flaming ended in approximately six hours.The company’s intermittent-cooling scenarios project water use of 13,500 to 27,000 gallons, while a separate scenario assumes continuous application at 250 gallons per minute for six hours, totaling 90,000 gallons.Using a 26,100-square-foot drainage area, AIP calculated the 90,000 gallons would average about 5.5 inches deep, which the company describes as within the proposed holding area’s capacity.During public comment, a resident questioned how water would be kept in the retention facilities. Panning Board chairman Jeff Baker referred the resident to the applicant’s written responses, in which AIP said that the facility’s gravel pad would retain about 9,000 gallons before overflowing into a holding area formed by the driveway, that grading directs water away from the Normans Kill, and that water entering the storm drains would reach lined campus basins.Baker said he considered the proposed measures sufficient given the distances and water volumes involved.AIP’s emergency plans remain in draft form, with missing contacts and an evacuation map pending.Planning board members sought clearer instructions, to which AIP’s chief executive, Morris Cox, agreed to prepare a consolidated, plain-language document identifying the responsibilities of firefighters and spill-response personnel; he said the spill-response contract had not been signed and he could not provide a definite response time.The application includes a July email exchange in which Slingerlands Fire Chief Sleurs supported a list of fire-safety commitments proposed by AIP.The list calls for AIP to:— Provide $80,000 to the fire department for fire-suppression equipment no later than the end of December 2027;— Provide an on-site equipment-storage container, a gate key, and emergency signs;— Keep at least 10 feet between battery containers and a 15-foot non-vegetative stone buffer outside the battery-area fence;— Install thermal cameras and gas detection, and connect the system’s alarm to the existing Plug Power systems; and— Supply fire-safety personnel at least two four-hour training sessions before commercial operation, followed by one four-hour session annually.“The Slingerlands Fire Department is on board with the listed items below,” Sleurs wrote on July 23.</div></body>

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NEW SCOTLAND — The much-less maligned battery-energy storage system proposed for Plug Power’s campus in Slingerlands is all but assured after the project received a key environmental approval from the New Scotland Planning Board earlier this month. The board on Nov. 4 adopted a negative declaration under the...

Vista Tech Park battery project advances

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NEW SCOTLAND — The much-less maligned battery-energy storage system proposed for Plug Power’s campus in Slingerlands is all but assured after the project r

Vista Tech Park battery project advances

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