The Town of Oyster Bay scheduled a public hearing for July 15 to extend its moratorium on battery energy storage systems.
The board voted to schedule the hearing at its meeting on Tuesday, June 24. The town currently has a ban on battery energy storage systems until the end of October. The new moratorium would be tacked on to the end of the current one and extend that ban through April 2026.
The public hearing comes less than two months into the last ban that was set in place in April. The town held a public hearing on April 8 and the moratorium was officially enacted later that month.
Deputy town attorney Elizabeth Faughnan said the Nassau County Planning Commission, which ultimately approves the town’s moratorium plan, had asked the town why it didn’t initially ask for a one-year ban.
The City of Glen Cove passed a one-year ban on battery energy storage systems in May, the City of Long Beach enacted a one-year moratorium in April and the Town of North Hempstead is in the middle of a one-year ban.
Some 30 residents spoke at the town’s April public hearing, with nearly all of them in favor of the ban for a variety of reasons.
“We’ve continued to listen to the significant safety concerns raised during the public hearings and we will act on those concerns,” Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said after the last moratorium was made official.
Last month, Jupiter Power pulled out of its proposal for a 275-megawatt battery storage system that was proposed for Glenwood Landing. Residents in the area have also raised concerns about Propel’s proposed electrical transmission line project.
A one-acre proposal for a Bethpage Battery Storage Project, which includes a 44-megawatt facility at the old Grumman site, was also mentioned at the last public hearing regarding the moratorium.
Nassau Officials have also expressed concern over Equinor’s Empire Wind project that will be implemented south of Long Beach. Trump administration imposed a stop work order on the project, which was rescinded in May.
Town officials made no public acknowledgement of the upcoming hearing during Tuesday’s meeting.
