Granite Source Northeast Director of Development Donnie Sheehan addresses Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency (August 27, 2024)
The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency board has approved the sale of county property to a company that hopes to build a battery storage facility in the town of Ellicott.
The IDA Board approved the sale of 12 acres for $75,000 to Lucy’s Energy Reserve LLC.
IDA CEO Mark Geise said the property is located on Dow Street, just south of Allen Street and has parcels that are “oddly shaped” with drastic slopes that aren’t conducive for traditional buildings.
He said Granite Source Power, who is the parent company of Lucy’s Energy Reserve LLC, approached the county about the property due to its proximity to a National Grid substation, “They’re looking at a 100 megawatt battery storage facility. We had an appraisal done and an appraisal was done on one of the parcels and what they’re offering us is higher than the appraisal that came back. I think it’s a really great project for this parcel. There’s a big need for battery storage.”
Granite Source Northeast Director of Development Donnie Sheehan said there is a big need for battery energy storage systems in New York State with the Climate Act mandate to reduce energy emissions, “Batteries are a big part of that in that they pair nicely with renewable energy as more solar comes online. Batteries will be buying energy off the grid and the holding, whether it’s wind energy or solar energy that otherwise might not get used, and then puts it back on the grid when the load and the demand incurs.”
Sheenan said over the next two years, New York State will do a cluster evaluation of the grid to determine the costs for the company to plug into the grid. He said after that, the company will begin to procure equipment with it being possibly up to five years before there are shovels in the ground.
The current cost estimate for the project is $100 million, with Sheehan saying the company will likely seek financial incentives from the County two years from now.
CEO Mark Geise also shared at the IDA Board meeting that the agency has been working with Clark, Patterson, Lee and other consultants to make Mason Industrial Park more shovel ready, “They are undertaking soil borings, wetland delineation, they’re surveying. We hope to have that work all done by the end of this year.”
Geise said the IDA also will be meeting with the Jamestown BPU to do a joint marketing effort of the site.
He added that the IDA is continuing to look at other properties in the county that might be able to be converted into shovel-ready sites.