Why Most Battery Developers Fail at Zoning?
Eighty-five towns across New York state sit under battery storage moratoriums right now, and two of three Westchester County towns where Joe Tassone Jr. built successful battery projects in 2020 have since banned the technology outright. In this episode, Tim Montague sits down with Joe Tassone Jr., partner at onCORE Origination, a site origination firm working in 25 states on solar, battery storage, data centers, and EV infrastructure.
This episode covers the top three issues blocking battery development at the community level, why fire safety fears around lithium-ion storage miss the wider context, and what separates developers who close projects from ones who waste millions.
Here's what you'll learn in this conversation about battery development and site origination:
You'll hear the three biggest objections communities raise against battery storage projects.
Find out why 85 New York towns currently sit under battery moratoriums, and how two of three Westchester County towns where Joe built projects in 2020 have since banned storage outright.
Learn why Joe argues developers should never treat zoning as black and white, even in towns with outright bans, because public utility statutes and use variances open paths to approval through the judicial process.
Understand how state-level programs in Illinois, Maryland, and Connecticut remove local NIMBY obstacles.
You'll get Joe's three tenets of successful development: knowing where to go through parcel acumen, committing fully to a market with clear pipeline vision, and persisting relentlessly through headwinds like the potential ITC phase-out.
Battery storage deployment sits at the intersection of grid necessity and community resistance, with 85 New York towns alone under moratoriums while data center demand pushes the grid toward capacity limits. Joe's 30 years of site origination experience surfaces one clear lesson: developers who treat zoning as static codes and give up at the first denial lose tens of millions in project value every year. The industry needs to move from reactive to proactive, meeting with town and county associations before moratoriums pass instead of reacting after.
Connect with Joe Tassone Jr
Joe Tassone Jr. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-f-tassone-jr-a778a1190/
onCORE Origination Website: https://oncoreorig.com/
Topics covered in this episode:
battery storage moratorium, site origination solar storage, grid-scale battery permitting, battery storage fire safety, NIMBY battery projects, clean energy site development, lithium-ion battery fire risk, virtual power plants, peaker plants
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