VACAVILLE, Calif. — A proposal for a battery storage facility is sparking debate in Vacaville. Under the plan, the facility would be located on Leisure Town Road at a former wastewater treatment plant.
The city is holding a community meeting at 6:00 p.m. at Solano Community College's Vacaville Campus to provide more information to residents about the project and hear their questions and concerns.
The proposed facility would be located at the former Gibson Canyon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant near the PG&E Vaca-Dixon Substation.
Residents who live near the area, like Sarah Dunn, have some safety concerns about the facility.
"The concerns I have and many of my neighbors is the proximity to houses. These facilities have a history of catching fire, causing evacuations and shelter-in-place orders. We feel it doesn't belong in a neighborhood," she said. "As you can see, there's a house just right next door, and then across the street, you see a large subdivision that has over 1,500 homes approximately."
The project is called the Menard Battery Energy Storage System. A planning application was filed for the project by AMPYR Energy USA, LLC, a company that develops renewable power projects. The planning application indicates the storage facility would utilize 32 acres of the 52-acre city-owned parcel.
Vacaville's Community Development Director Erin Morris said the proposal is still in the early stages and no decision has been made to approve or deny the project. She said the applicant has not filed a formal development application yet.
So far, the city council has allowed the applicant to evaluate the property in order to decide whether they would like to purchase and develop the parcel.
"Should they file an application, it's going to go through a rigorous multi-month public process and likely one of the first steps would be another community meeting," Morris said.
Dunn and other residents plan to voice their concerns at a community meeting Thursday night. Dunn and more than 2,200 people have signed a petition on change.org urging the city council not to approve the project, citing health and environmental concerns.
"We want to stop this project from coming in," Dunn said. "There's hazards involved. It shouldn't be near people where they live and work."
The city encourages residents to come to the community meeting.
"We are deeply aware of the community's concerns about the safety of the facility and quite frankly, city staff in our early review of this proposal have a lot of the very same concerns so we want to hear from the community," Morris said. "It's so early in the process; we really have time to take in that input and help it influence the city's decision making process."
ABC10 asked the city why Vacaville specifically is being considered for the battery storage site.
"Vacaville has actually received multiple inquiries for battery storage from different operators because of our proximity to the Vaca-Dixon Substation. Battery storage is a huge need in the state of California," Morris said.
If the project moves forward, the city said the applicant would also be required to propose a community benefit. Under the original application, a recreational facility was proposed to occupy six acres of the site. Since then, Morris said the applicant has moved away from that proposal and is instead proposing a $20 million community benefit. It's unclear at this time what that would look like, but it would be up to the City Council to decide.
ABC10 reached out to the applicant and is waiting for a response. We are told representatives from the company will be at the community meeting.
For more information on the meeting, click here.
The meeting will be held on Sept. 7 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Solano Community College Vacaville campus located at 2001 North Village Parkway.
The city said in-person Spanish translation will be available. The meeting will also be livestreamed on YouTube.
WATCH THE MEETING HERE:
