Published

2 years ago

June 28, 2024

Alice Rush

The American Clean Power Association (ACP) has published a model ordinance framework providing guidance for state and local governments that are developing siting and permitting rules related to building and operating utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS).

The framework builds upon ACP’s support for the adoption of the latest safety standards, and incorporates requirements and guidance established by the National Fire Protection Association safety standard for energy storage, NFPA 855.

The model ordinance serves as a guiding framework for thousands of counties and municipalities across the country seeking to develop regulations for energy storage facilities in their community. It includes policy language for incorporation or adoption by state and local governments related to the issues of:

Permitting Procedures
Siting Standards
Land Use & Zoning
Safety & Equipment Certifications
Environmental Compliance
Decommissioning

The recommendations and considerations included in this framework draw from a variety of sources, including national fire safety standards (such as NFPA 855 and UL 9540), guidance established by national energy laboratories, and existing state laws and local regulations.

“Utility-scale storage is a safe and reliable tool necessary for a sustainable and resilient energy transition,” says Stephanie Smith, COO of Eolian and a member of ACP’s board of directors. “Across the industry, we are committed to integrating battery energy storage systems into the grid with safety at the forefront. ACP’s model ordinance is a proactive step toward helping communities across the country incorporate these important energy resources safely and effectively.”

The post ACP Debuts Framework to Support Utility-Scale BESS appeared first on Solar Industry.

ACP Debuts Framework to Support Utility-Scale BESS

Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy Concepts Can’t Violate the Laws of Physics

Published

9 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Alice Rush

In the early days of 2GreenEnergy, my people and I were vigorously engaged in finding solid ideas in cleantech that needed funding in order to move forward.

I vividly remember a conversation with a guy in Maryland who was trying to explain the (ostensible) breakthrough that he and his team had made in hydrokinetics. When I was having trouble visualizing what we was talking about, he asked me to “think of it as a river in a box.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “You mean you take a box full of standing water, add energy to it get it moving, then extract that energy, leaving you with more energy that you added to it.”

“Exactly.”

I politely explained that the laws of physics, specifically the first and second laws of thermodynamics, make this impossible.

He wasn’t through, however, and insisted that, in his office, his people had constructed a “working model.”

Here’s where my tone descended into something less than 100% polite. I told him that he may think he has a working model, but he’s wrong; if he believes this, he’s ignorant; if he doesn’t, but is conducting this conversation anyway, he’s a fraud.

“But don’t you want to come see it?” he implored.

“No. Not only would not fly across the country to see whatever it is you claim to have built, I wouldn’t walk across the street to a “working model” of something that is theoretically impossible.”

—

I tell this story because the claim made at the upper left is essentially identical. You’re pumping water up out of a stream, and then claiming to extract more energy when the water flows back into the stream.

Of course, social media today is rife with complete crap like this. We’ve devolved to a point where defrauding money out of idiots is rapidly replacing baseball as our national pastime.