SHERBURNE — The Town of Sherburne will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. today, Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the Sherburne Fire House on a proposed law regulating battery energy storage facilities.

Sherburne Town Supervisor Charles Mastro said, “Our goal is to get the information out to the public. The town board will listen to the public’s input at the public hearing and if no major concerns are noted, the law will be adopted at the regular town meeting beginning at 7 p.m. on the same night.”

The law follows two town moratoriums on battery storage projects and months of discussion surrounding NexAmp’s proposal for a 40-megawatt battery storage facility on Knapp Road.

Among its provisions, the proposed law would prohibit lithium-ion batteries, limit battery storage facilities to 1 megawatt, require a trained official on site 24 hours a day and require training for at least 75 percent of the Sherburne Fire Department.

“It’s to protect the safety of the Sherburne residents,” Mastro explained. “There are safer alternatives.”

Mastro explained that even once the law has been passed, there is still a possibility that the state will step in and could potentially override any local laws. However, if that happens, the matter would be decided in court. In 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul doubled New York’s energy storage goal, calling for 6-gigawatts of energy storage by 2030, making it the highest energy storage goal in the country. Projects like NexAmp’s proposed battery storage facility would be progress toward that goal.

Copies of the proposed law will be available at the hearing.