Isle of Wight County Supervisors expect to vote June 18 on a proposed ordinance that would allow but restrict battery energy storage system, or BESS, projects to existing solar farms.
Per the latest draft, which the supervisors discussed for roughly an hour on June 4, the arrays of shipping container-sized batteries would be prohibited within the county’s designated development service districts where Isle of Wight aims to concentrate growth while leaving the remainder of the county rural. BESS would also be prohibited outside of existing or approved solar farms, where a new state law set to take effect July 1 requires they be allowed.
The ordinance would require that battery storage equipment be at least 100 feet from wetlands, at least 350 feet from roads and property lines and a quarter-mile from an emergency shelter. The wetlands provision reflects a compromise between Vice Chairwoman Renee Rountree, who had proposed a 50-foot setback from wetlands, and Supervisor David Garner, who had proposed a quarter-mile setback that Rountree said would effectively ban BESS countywide…