Battery energy storage project not happening

GREENVILLE — A proposed project to build a battery energy story facility at the former steam plant location in Greenville will most likely not be happening.

“I received notice yesterday that the pre-application will not be moving forward, so it is just not happening,” Town Manager Mike Roy said during an April 1 select board meeting.

The project, which was pitched to the select board in February by the New York-based startup Ground Floor Energy, aimed to stabilize the local energy grid. The select board allowed Ground Floor to go ahead with a pre-application for a grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission, a government agency that funds rural economic development projects.

“They are disappointed but that is where we sit right now,” Roy said about letting the company know.

If the Northern Border Regional Commission had approved the project then a more detailed application would have then been submitted.

The proposed structure would have been housed in Greenville’s former steam plant, which has since been turned into a biochar production facility owned by the local company Clean Maine Carbon. Biochar, a charcoal-like fertilizer made from burning wood material at high temperatures, is considered a green alternative to other fertilizers because it sequesters carbon.

The burning process also creates steam, which can power a turbine to generate electricity, something Clean Maine Carbon cites on its website as a benefit, though the company does not currently generate electricity and has no active plans to do so.

Building a battery on the site could have helped stabilize the local grid. Battery facilities are often meant to make renewable energy projects like wind and solar power more viable by storing up electricity for high demand periods. 

In other business, town officials heard from Don Hodapp on the YES (Youth, Education and Sports) Building which would house pre-kindergarten and childcare facilities and a community center in a structure on the Pritham Avenue school campus at the approximate site of the former Nickerson Elementary.

“We are working to get an architectural rendering that we can actually build for the cost of the project and the cost of the money that we have,” he said, mentioning this amount is about $3 million. 

“I just want to share with everybody that costs keep going up,” Hodapp said, saying the YES Building committee is meeting with the architect every Thursday.

A master plan for what the building should look like is being developed with the three tenants

“That master plan is probably not going to be what we build out of the chute, and the reason for that is cost,” Hodapp said. “That is what we will have, the question is what will it look like and that’s what we’re trying to find out.”

The plan would provide the ability to look at future growth opportunities. Hodapp compared it to a subdivision rendering showing 20 houses but with just a few homes starting off the project.

The per square foot construction cost surprised the YES Building committee, estimates have this expense between $450 and $500 and committee members are working to figure out how to satisfy all three tenants and the requirements of the grants for a solution.

“What we want to do is come back to the planning board with a drawing, with a plan and show that to the group,” Hodapp said.

“Our next steps are to continue to meet with the design-build contractor as well as the architect, we are meeting every Thursday,” he said. “Our goal is to have a milestone schedule, I’m hoping to have that tomorrow and I’m hoping to have I would say a 90% complete master plan by tomorrow.”

Construction for water and sewer infrastructure improvements for the forthcoming Northern Forest Center Spruce Street subdivision is set to being around May 15, Roy said. 

“That’s ready to roll and that’s Sargent (Corporation) that’ll be doing that project for us,” he said. 

The Northern Forest Center purchased 5 acres of land downtown off Spruce Street and plans to build housing to serve the local workforce. The housing project plan seeks to develop 28 units that incorporate a mix of multi-family buildings, duplexes and single-family homes to be built over three years. The Northern Forest Center Center hopes to use the project to demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits of utilizing mass timber construction. The project has an estimated $11.5 million cost.

The Spruce Street development will be the Northern Forest Center’s sixth housing project and the first to be built from the ground up. The project will focus on providing housing for the middle-income, year-round workforce and building the sustainability of the Moosehead Lake region’s year-round economy. Greenville’s high rate of second homes and absentee homeowners has left few options for locals or people trying to move to the community, raising concerns about maintaining school enrollment, civic participation and vital services. 

The Northern Forest Center uses a mix of funding sources to achieve its goal of creating high quality housing that can be rented or sold at rates that median-income earners can afford. Sources include the Northern Forest Fund — which integrates private impact investments, donations and grants from public sources — and grants and donations specifically for this project.

The Northern Forest Center is an innovation and investment partner serving the Northern Forest of northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. In 2017 programming expanded to include redeveloping underused properties to enable young professionals and families to find homes and contribute.

A public hearing on the project is set to be part of the next planning board meeting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15.

Daniel O’Connor, a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor contributed to this story.