MONTAGUE — After the applicant quelled concerns of a fire risk, Planning Board members voted unanimously to approve a special permit for the construction of a 2.7-megawatt battery storage facility at 124 Turnpike Road.

The permit was approved on the conditions that the applicant, PowerBESSCo 2 LLC, would cover the costs of training the Fire Department to respond to battery storage fires, reappear before the board in the event of an equipment change and that the project receives approval from the town’s business inspector.

According to Peak Power engineer Dmytro Gladyshevskyi, representing the applicant, the site will provide additional electricity storage for the grid, allowing for more reliable power in the event of an outage or during times when electricity use peaks.

“When you are facing hot days like today and yesterday, this creates the peak and this is where you would experience outages to the facility, or if you participate in the Demand Response Program, the facilities would use their operation capacity,” Gladyshevskyi said. “To battle this, the battery storage is the great framework here.”

Weston & Sampson engineer Melinda Costello explained the battery storage facility, located on a 3.1-acre parcel, will be fenced in on a 2,000-square-foot area. She noted that the site will have sufficient flood mitigation, infrastructure and access roads for emergency responders.

During deliberations, Planning Director Maureen Pollock read a list of concerns, prepared by Health Director Ryan Paxton. In the listed concerns, Paxton referenced the difficulty firefighters face extinguishing lithium-ion battery fires due to thermal runaway. He also mentioned the facility’s proximity to the former Montague landfill, which he said produces combustible and volatile emissions.

“Given that this site is already known to have associated environmental impact near the proposed system, what environmental analysis or consideration has been given to understand how these two sites might interact with each other with respect to higher safety risk and environmental contamination?” Paxton asked in his written comments. “Lithium battery fires are known to be quite dangerous due to the intense nature of fires, the extreme volume of water and flame retardant needed to suppress said fires, and toxic fumes that are emitted from said fires. I’m interested in knowing whether our local fire department would have the capacity to safely respond to a fire at the proposed facility.”

Gladyshevskyi said he has been in touch with the Fire Department and worked out a fire safety system in the event of an emergency. He added that the facility will be equipped with necessary protections in the event of a fire.

Costello explained the facility will be located more than 300 feet away from the former landfill site, thus “exponentially” mitigating the risk of any hazardous interactions between the two sites.

“The Fire Department, so far, has been very supportive of the project and know what they could be doing in case of an emergency,” Gladyshevskyi said. “The system is integrated with the up-to-date fire detection and suppression system that will not allow fire to just burst out and spread to anything that’s nearby..”

With plans to begin construction next year, Gladyshevskyi added that the applicant hopes to finish its procurement process, and its environmental and site surveys by the end of this year.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.