On Jan. 25, the Alpine Community Planning Group unanimously denied the proposed Alpine Batter Energy Storage Project. The project, from EnerSmart, LLC, proposed a Minor Use Permit to construct up to 12 Mwhr of battery energy storage on an existing vacant property at 3434 Alpine Boulevard. This project is a private project of EnerSmart and not a County of San Diego project.
The proposed project would include six (6) battery storage containers on individual concrete equipment pads. The proposed project system would utilize lithium-ion batteries and would connect to SDGE’s existing substation with underground lines. The project does not propose the generation of electricity but would receive and store energy from the grid and then deliver that stored energy back to the grid based on demand. The proposed project would be unmanned and has been designed for full remote operation; however, periodic renewal and replacement of batteries and other associated equipment would be required throughout the life of the project to ensure operational integrity and efficiency. The project site is in the Alpine Community Planning Area, directly north of Alpine Boulevard, approximately 0.3 miles east of the intersection of Alpine Boulevard and West Victoria Drive. The site is subject to the General Plan Regional Category Village, the General Plan Land Use of General Commercial and is split zoned C34 and C36. The battery storage portion is fully contained within the portion of parcel zoned C36. Access would be provided via proposed driveway off Wheeler St.
No septic, sewer, or additional fire water connection is required. The county has provided an initial scoping letter on the proposed project and county planners will attend the meeting to answer questions. The county has requested the group make a recommendation on this application.
ACPG Chair Travis Lyon said after hearing a presentation from EnerSmart Vice President of Operations Skyler Tennis, and public comment, the Planning Group voted to deny the project and made an additional motion for the County.
Lyon said the Planning Group decided not to support the project for two reasons.
“The project is not bad, but we made the recommendation against it,” he said. “The Planning Group is advisory, so we made a recommendation to deny the project for the following issues. The zoning for the site is commercial zoning. We believe that is inappropriate zoning for utility or quasi-industrial use. C34 and C36 are zoning for small retail or office buildings. I do not feel this project fits that zoning. That is why they were asking for a Minor Use Permit.” Lyon said the Planning Group and the County staff planners look at land, look at zoning and land-use to plan a community.
“The reason we do not have industrial land, especially right along Alpine Boulevard is that is the Village core. That is where you want people to shop and walk. Housing is okay, Mixed-use zoning is throughout the area. But the idea of putting a battery facility is for the same reason that the town or county would not put an industrial plant right there on the boulevard. That just does not make sense,” he said. “The proximity of the site adjacent to a residential neighborhood, specifically an age-restricted mobile home park, creates unmitigable risks. They did not describe any ways to mitigate this.”
Lyon said in this case, it creates the potential for fire risk or at-risk risks for the age-restricted community.
“If there were any type of actual problem there it could restrict access to the site for emergency response or access to both sides of town for emergency use,” he said. “What they described is if there were some type of event of a failure, the first step is a quarter mile evacuation around the site, and a half mile shelter in place. Based on its location that not only takes out Alpine Boulevard, but that radius also includes Interstate 8.” Lyon said many people look at this as not if there is a fire, but when there is a fire.
“The problem is that it could,” he said. “If it were a catastrophic fire next to a commercial building, that might be different, or next to an industrial park, that would be different. The other thing is that we have schools within that radius. How do you put a shelter in place on a preschool or charter school. Their answer to if there was a fire, it is not to drop a bunch of water on it. It is that they contain the unit and let it burn out. And they let it off gas.”
Lyon said this location is problematic. He said the other reason was the incompatibility with the aesthetics of the Village core. He said the County places extra restrictions on things in the Alpine Village core. He said if you want to build an office building, apartment project, or a home, you not only go through the Planning Group, but also the Design and Review Board because it is in an area that has specific design material. This type of architecture or this type of materials used.
Lyon said if this project were on industrial land on the other end of Alpine, the recommendation might have been different. But it is not. It is right in the center of town.
“Our McDonald’s does not look like any other McDonald’s,” he said. “Our Rite Aid does not look like any other Rite Aid because they are in our village core and they use certain lighting, building materials. Putting all these extra restrictions on fast food restaurants and convenience stores, there is no way to really dress up a battery project. Those are all issues.” Lyon said they made a motion for denial of the project for those reasons.
“Then, we made another motion, not specific to the project, but specific to these types of projects, battery storage projects are just so new, before the county starts processing a bunch of applications, Minor Use Permits and put these on site, maybe they should do some studies. We asked the County to study the impacts of these battery use storage systems and potential failures and the effects on surrounding residential neighborhoods, major evacuation routes, waterways and downstream water quality, wildland urban interface, high severity fire zones, and air quality due to the release of off gassing from the facility. Whether in normal operating conditions or in the event of a failure.”
“We have experience with residential subdivisions, commercial buildings, even cellphone towers,” he continued. “Those have been around for a while. They meet certain criteria. The county studied them. They know where they want them, what the issues are. The answer to these battery storage systems, not enough work has been done on a county level, to say these are the impacts, this is where they should be, this is where they should not be. So, we asked the County, not just for this project, but before they move forward with any project, do some of these studies so they can come to us planning groups and explain they know how they operate, know what it looks like when they fail, when they are working normally, and these are the best practices. We do not think that has been done.”
The Planning Group’s recommendations will be forwarded to the County and then the project will be reviewed and approved or denied by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
