What happened
On Dec. 17 League City City Council voted 5-3 to grant Stella Energy a special-use permit to operate a battery energy storage station, or BESS, and rezone 1.7 acres from general commercial to public/semipublic where the facility will be built.
Council members Tom Crews, Justin Hicks and Tommy Cones voted against the motion.
What else
In July, City Council adopted an ordinance laying out standards for future BESS facilities. A BESS is a facility of batteries that stores energy and sells it back to the grid when more power is needed to meet demand, Community Impact previously reported.
The area needed to be rezoned in order for the facility’s construction to move forward because general commercial zoning does not allow for BESS facilities to be built there, city staff said.
Quote of note
Community Impact previously reported that Stella Energy Solutions previously requested the permit in April, but the motion was tabled until the city could identify ordinances that would create parameters for such sites.
“I’m proud to be standing here a year later with the amount of time and effort that’s been spent with staff with emergency services, with council members, understanding the new ordinance, putting safety measures in place,” said Brian Yarborough, chief development officer of Stella Energy Solutions. “As the knowledge of the industry has grown ... in the community, we’re glad to have a project that’s not only compliant with the ordinance, but exceeding where the ordinance had intended.”
Remember this?
Following the ordinance’s approval in July, League City City Council also approved a BESS for Peregrine Energy in September, Community Impact previously reported.
