Battery Energy Storage Project

Pierce Atwood serves as lead transactional and environmental counsel for a leading U.S. operator and developer of stand-alone, utility-scale battery energy storage systems, in connection with a proposed 700±-MW battery energy storage system in Everett, Massachusetts. When completed, the proposed storage facility will be one of the largest in Massachusetts and will occupy a critical, urban location given its proximity to the Mystic substation. Pierce Atwood also leads aspects of the complex, state environmental permitting efforts, including, but not limited to, permitting under the Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act, known as Chapter 91, and the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act.

The site of the proposed storage facility is a 20-acre portion of a former ExxonMobil bulk fossil fuel storage terminal located near the Mystic River. The developer will remediate the site for its proposed use. It comprises Chapter 91-regulated tidelands designated as a “Designated Port Area” by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Office of Coastal Zone Management. As a result, allowed uses are limited to water-dependent industrial uses and limited supporting uses. Among other things, Pierce Atwood secured a first-ever, precedent-setting decision from the Massachusetts Waterways Program that the proposed energy storage facility is a permissible water-dependent industrial project, thus allowing this project to go forward.