Rochester residents are weeks away from learning whether a proposed lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) will be coming to town.
Concern is mounting.
The proposed facility, located 7505 183rd Ave. SW, is headed by Convergent Energy & Power, a North American energy storage company founded in 2011. Barghausen Consulting Engineers, based out of Kent, has been hired to help design the project.
According to Convergent, the facility will address possible rolling blackouts and other reliability issues as the demand for electricity in the Rochester area continues to grow.
“That is why Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is smartly getting ahead of the potential problem and issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in 2023 to procure 80 (megawatts) of energy storage and 25 (megawatts) solar (photovoltaic) in its service territory,” the company wrote in a letter to local residents. “Convergent was selected for its response to PSE’s RFP to develop, own, and operate an energy storage system for PSE in Rochester.”
Convergent says the new storage system has the “potential to increase reliability for over 1 million customers in this region — and can also maintain or reduce electricity costs in the face of potential load growth.”
Despite the promise to maintain or decrease utility bills while increasing reliability, residents in the area have expressed worry over environmental damage and negative health impacts.
Last week, one resident wrote on Facebook that she feared the system could lead to poison in the ground and water.
“Especially if a fire breaks out, and the special fluids to put out a lithium battery is sprayed down and soaks into the groundwater,” the resident wrote.
Another resident said he didn’t want the Rochester community to become a “testing ground” for the technology.
Rochester residents are not alone in their fears. In January, a fire at one of the world’s largest BESS facilities in Moss Landing, California, led to the reported evacuation of 1,500 people.
Up north in Skagit County, Sedro-Woolley Mayor Julia Johnson wrote a letter to Gov. Bob Ferguson imploring him to reject the proposed BESS project known as Goldeneye.
The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) is currently reviewing the project.
The Rochester site, meanwhile, is not the only project being pitched for the area.
According to The Olympian, BrightNight LLC proposed a BESS facility between Bucoda in Thurston County and Centralia in Lewis County earlier this year.
A spokesperson for Thurston County told The Chronicle that the two facilities are unrelated and have separate applicants and developers.
Chief Nathan Drake of the West Thurston Regional Fire Authority expressed his own concern for his agency’s ability to address a fire-related emergency at the possible facility in Rochester.
In a January letter to the Thurston County Community Planning and Economic Development Department (CPED), Drake outlined four major concerns: fire risk, emergency response readiness, impact on fire suppression infrastructure and escalating risk over time.
“Lithium-ion batteries, especially at large scale, present a heightened fire risk due to thermal runaway, which can result in uncontrolled fires that are difficult to extinguish,” Drake wrote. “The potential for catastrophic fire incidents in the event of system malfunction, external damage, or other unforeseen events is a major safety concern for both the facility and surrounding areas.”
The chief continued, “Fires caused by lithium-ion batteries can be extremely challenging to control and may lead to significant hazards, including the release of toxic gases and potential damage to nearby properties.”
Drake noted that such fires also required specialized training and resources that the department currently lacked, and that the amount of water needed to combat the fire would exceed capacity.
The chief concluded by saying the fire department opposed approval of the project, “unless the applicant demonstrates full compliance with the necessary fire safety standards and implements additional safeguards and infrastructure improvements to mitigate the risks associated with lithium-ion battery storage systems.”
In its letter to the Rochester community, Convergent cited its 15-year track record and said it is “committed to working with the West Thurston Regional Fire Authority and the Fire Marshal’s Office to ensure all safety standards are met.”
The company noted that all of its systems are monitored around the clock, but did acknowledge that facilities dealing with electricity and electrical infrastructure always carry some risk.
Convergent added that battery fires are rare events, nonetheless, and said there is “minimal risk to air quality associated with battery fires in remote, outdoor areas, particularly at this scale.”
Still, the company alluded to past situations.
“In previous incidents, we have reimbursed the local fire and police departments for any costs incurred as a result of their response to the situation,” the company wrote.
Convergent also appeared to disagree with West Thurston Fire’s assertion that a response to a fire at the facility would require special training or resources, saying “smoke emanating from a battery fire is no worse than other smoke present during a fire,” and that the “industry best practice (is) to maintain a safe distance and let combustible material deteriorate.”
The energy company now awaits a special use permit from Thurston County that would allow it to begin construction. A final decision will come from the county’s third-party hearing examiner.
In a staff report prepared for the Oct. 14 public hearing, Thurston County Senior Planner Maya Teeple noted that the Public Works Department (Water Resources) and the Public Health and Social Services Department had both closed their reviews and indicated that the preliminary designs and proposals appeared to meet the various county-related requirements.
The Public Works Development Review recommended approval of the project, with conditions such as the creation of an Engineered Drainage & Erosion Control Plan (DECP) and Construction Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan.
The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, however, expressed worry about how the company would handle and dispose of the lithium-ion batteries without a comprehensive plan and “stated concerns over potential of leaching into groundwater.”
The staff report further noted that public comment had “consistently (raised) concerns about potential safety risks and environmental impacts associated with the proposed facility,” but later added that the “County’s permitting process will ensure the engineered plans meet code requirements and that the emergency response strategies are in place to ensure that all proposed safety measures are thoroughly implemented.”
The county told The Chronicle that the project is nearing a final determination, and the deadline for the hearing examiner will either be Nov. 6 or 10, “depending on if any additional comment is received from public members who had technical trouble making comment during the hearing.”
A 14-day appeal period will follow the decision.
“If approval is granted on the special use permit, the applicant will still be required to meet all other jurisdictional requirements (including but not limited to obtaining a building permit and fire permit),” the county said.
To learn more about the proposed BESS project in Rochester, visit the county’s hearing examiner page at https://tinyurl.com/ywcxnwwx.
