AGAWAM — Developers will take their plans to build a battery storage facility at the old Lucia Lumber property at 769 Silver St. to the public Monday.
The company, Boston-based Longroad Energy, will meet with the public from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Agawam Senior Center Dining Room, 954 Main St. The meetings are organized by the developer, not the town.
The 250-megawatt energy storage facility on the 17-acre property would have enough power for 285,000 average homes.
Agawam’s City Council enacted an ordinance last year meant to address similar battery plants, which are being proposed not just in Agawam but also in cities and towns across the Pioneer Valley and beyond.
Neighbors worry about the risk of fire and water contamination.
However, the state considers the plants as green energy infrastructure, and towns and cities cannot ban them outright and cannot place unreasonable restrictions on them, said Mayor Christopher Johnson.
Instead, Agawam’s ordinance requires what Johnson called the most stringent safety requirements in the industry from the National Fire Protection Association and Underwriters Laboratories. Each battery must be housed in its own container with an independent fire-suppression system.
Developers also must post a decommissioning bond, money that could be used to remove battery storage facilities if they are no longer used.
Johnson’s been talking with Longroad Energy for about a year, he said.
“They are at the beginning stages of permitting,” he said.
Longroad said construction is expected to start in 2027, with project operations slated to begin in 2029. The site is ideal because of its industrial zoning and proximity to power lines, the company said.
But it’s not the only proposal.
“The industry has evolved dramatically,” he said. “We were getting contacted by developers.”
The Silver Street project is different from a separate project proposed by New Leaf Energy nearby at 404 Silver St.
And Agawam isn’t alone.
Paige Cerulli has been trying to raise public awareness about a proposed battery storage facility near her home in rural Plainfield.
She said Blandford received two new proposals recently, including one that hosted an informational meeting Wednesday. Worthington’s Planning Board discussed a proposal Thursday night.
Otis has proposals, as well.
“It’s absolutely a wave hitting the Hilltowns, just about simultaneously,” she said. “We are all worried.”
Developers pulled out of a Westfield project last year in the face of community opposition. A project is also under review in Southampton.
And in West Springfield, Chris Sherman, senior vice president of regulatory and development for Cogentrix Energy Power Management, said a project proposed for the former generation station on the Connecticut River on Memorial Avenue is still active.
Cogentrix will participate in the next solicitation from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources for energy storage site, which is expected out this summer, Sherman wrote in an email Friday.
