On February 7, 2019, the Energy Facilities Siting Board (“EFSB”) issued a notice and Request for Comments in EFSB 19-01, the docket we previously noted, in which the petitioner seeks a determination that its energy storage system is not within the EFSB’s jurisdiction.

Comments are due by February 20, 2019.

The EFSB identified five topics on which it is “particularly interested in receiving information:”

• distinctions between the definitions and technical characteristics of energy storage systems versus generation facilities, including distinctions under relevant massachusetts statutory and regulatory provisions; 
• technical information concerning the safety and environmental profile and impacts associated with utility-scale lithium-ion energy storage systems; 
• the jurisdiction of federal agencies, other state agencies, and local agencies over the construction, operation, and maintenance of cranberry point project specifically, and utility-scale energy storage systems, generally; 
• permitting and siting regulations, precedent, and practices for utility-scale energy storage systems in other states; 
• how and whether a jurisdictional decision in this case would or should apply to other types of energy storage systems, especially those that would take energy from and deliver energy to the new england electrical grid.

As we noted in our previous post, this docket may set an important precedent for energy storage systems in the Commonwealth. Hopefully the EFSB will receive comments reflective of its significance.