{"id":61761,"date":"2023-12-19T15:55:25","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T23:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=61761"},"modified":"2023-12-19T15:55:25","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T23:55:25","slug":"l-a-county-supervisors-tackle-increasing-local-oversight-of-battery-energy-storage-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=61761","title":{"rendered":"L.A. County Supervisors Tackle Increasing Local Oversight of Battery Energy Storage Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo credit: Hecate Grid<\/em><\/p>\n

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a\u00a0<\/a>motion<\/a>\u00a0authored by Supervisor Kathryn Barger that directs Los Angeles County\u2019s Department of Regional Planning to develop an ordinance that will regulate and prevent the overconcentration of battery energy storage sites (BESS) in North County.<\/p>\n

The discussion among the Supervisors focused on finding a balance between supporting energy reliability and clean energy goals that will help reduce greenhouse gasses by developing new energy storage solutions like BESS facilities, while adequately mitigating fire risks posed by the storage of lithium ion batteries and safeguarding the equitable distribution of these storage facilities\u2013which are prone to be developed in parts of the County where undeveloped land is available.<\/p>\n

Supervisor Kathryn Barger\u2019s motion adds more teeth to the County\u2019s ability to have local oversight in approving BESS site locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in being proactive and realistic,\u201d said\u00a0Supervisor Kathryn Barger<\/strong>. \u201cThe push to create renewable energy storage sites will continue to grow. It\u2019s time to step up the County\u2019s ability to have a stronger governance role. The\u00a0motion<\/a>\u00a0I introduced during today\u2019s Board of Supervisors\u2019 meeting achieves that goal. Enacting a County permitting process that\u2019s specifically tailored to regulate battery energy storage solutions will help us get to the heart of community concerns about fire safety and overconcentration of these sites in North County.\u201d<\/p>\n

The motion directs the Director of Los Angeles County\u2019s Department of Regional Planning to amend the County\u2019s zoning code to provide clarity on appropriate siting and land use approval for BESS, including the development of definitions, permitting structure standards, and operational standards. It also specifies that the forthcoming Ordinance should include specific criteria to mitigate potential fire hazards, safety measures, and emergency response protocols.<\/p>\n

The motion also directs the County\u2019s Regional Planning Department to convene meetings with key community stakeholders, labor and energy stakeholders to gather input on policy design for the Ordinance.<\/p>\n

The new BESS ordinance is expected to be back before the Board in late 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo credit: Hecate Grid The Los...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61762,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61761\/revisions\/61762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}