Image: Image: Cranberry Point Energy Storage

Tesla Megapack units will power two battery energy storage facilities with a total capacity of 800 MWh in Massachusetts. They have been approved by the Massachusetts Energy Siting Facilities Board, overcoming obstacles that have been created by local authorities.

The Massachusetts Energy Siting Facilities Board has approved two energy storage facilities with a combined capacity of 400 MW/800 MWh, according to PV Magazine. This decision cancels previous regulations that prevented the development of these facilities. Once operational, they will meet 80% of the 1 GWh energy storage deployment target by 2025. The final decisions on the Cranberry Point Energy Storage and Medway Grid projects were made on June 30.

The Medway facility in Medway, Massachusetts, facility will be located in the Eversource Engineering District and connected to the Eversource substation. Medway expects to install 140 Tesla Megapacks on the site. The substation associated with the project will include one 300 MVA transformer. Cranberry Point Energy Storage, a 150 MW/300 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) and ancillary facilities to be located in Carver, Massachusetts.

Previously, these two sites were considered outside the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Energy Sites Board. This unexpectedly opened the door for further discussion of the project. As of the end of June, the board granted zoning bylaw exemptions to properties, effectively clearing the way for their construction.

The Cranberry Point facility is being developed by Plus Power of San Francisco. The facility has been under development since 2017 and was originally approved by the City of Carver Planning and Conservation Board in March 2019. It will be connected to the Eversource substation and will serve the entire New England region. The project will also use Tesla Megapack batteries and lithium phosphate batteries.

The city of Carter's moratoriums on solar and battery projects that have hampered the construction of facilities have been lifted. They were called by Attorney General Muara as unreasonably restricting solar and storage systems without substantial evidence of violating the public interest. She also stated that the moratoriums hinder government policy on solar energy and that the rationale for impact studies is not strong enough to support them.

H/t @SawyerMerritt/Twitter

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts; follow him on Twitter

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