PSC hearing questions fire protection for Cass County battery site

CASSELTON, N.D. — The chair of the North Dakota Public Service Commission on Friday expressed concerns that a large battery storage project in Cass County would have to rely on Casselton for fire protection without Casselton having any say in the project’s approval. 

The project is called Harmony Storage and would sit next to a solar farm that is under construction in Harmony Township, east of Casselton. Both projects are led by Minnesota-based Geronimo Power.

One concern with large battery storage is the risk of fire from overheating batteries. 

Geronimo representatives sought to reassure the three-person commission that the risk of fire is low and the battery storage system is designed to prevent a fire from spreading. 

If a fire department needs to respond to Harmony Township, it would come from Casselton, which Commission Chair Randy Christmann noted has no say in the project. 

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“This still does concern me that we have a township approving a project, and then the project developer telling the fire department how they’re going to have to handle this project if this worst case happens,” Christmann said. 

Casselton Fire Chief John Hejl said in an interview after the meeting that dealing with a fire at a battery storage site would be similar to how it would deal with a battery-powered vehicle catching fire. He said containing the fire would be key. 

He said the fire department, which provides fire protection for 12 townships, has met with Geronimo on fire response to the solar farm and expects to meet again on the battery storage. 

“We’ll just continue talks with Geronimo if and when or however the project moves and kind of just take it from there,” said Hejl, who attended a portion of the hearing. 

The commission heard testimony from Geronimo representatives and from members of the public. A decision to approve or deny Geronimo’s application will come later. 

The 200-megawatt solar farm had previously been approved by PSC. The solar farm and battery storage and a proposed data center would be a part of what Geronimo calls Harmony Energy Park near the Bison Substation east of Casselton and north of Mapleton. 

Friday’s hearing was limited to the $249 million storage site, which could hold 200 megawatts of power for up to four hours. 

The storage site would be more than three-fourths of a mile away from the nearest residence, complying with both state and local setback rules, Geronimo officials said.

They also addressed noise, which would mostly come from fans to keep the batteries cool. 

Geronimo officials said their models show the site would comply with the township’s noise limit of 45 decibels at 1 mile from the site.

The company will also submit a study of the noise that might come from electronic components after the facility is farther along in the design process. 

Perry Rust, a Harmony Township landowner, said the commission should consider the impact of all of the energy development projects in the area around Harmony Township. 

While the battery storage site will only take up about 12 acres, when coupled with other projects, such as the data center and more power generation, there could be profound change for the rural lifestyle of Cass County, he said. 

“I urge the commission to evaluate the cumulative infrastructure domino effect that’s happening across our townships, rather than just viewing this application in isolation,” Rust said.

Reach North Dakota Monitor deputy editor Jeff Beach at [email protected]