OCEAN CITY — A future battery energy storage facility in north Ocean City moved closer to becoming a reality this week when the City Council approved both applications pending a potential land swap.
Early this month, the Ocean City Planning Commission held a marathon public hearing on two Delmarva Power and Light (DPL) applications to develop a battery energy storage facility on one of two lots on the bayside of Coastal Highway in the area of 100th Street and the public library. It’s complicated, but in layman’s term, a battery energy storage system, or BESS, would provide a fallback energy source in the resort for DPL during times of peak energy use on the barrier island.
It’s part of DPL’s larger plan to improve and ensure reliability at peak times. In 2019, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) initiated a program known as the Maryland Energy Storage Pilot Program. The intent of the pilot program is to explore the efficiency of deploying utility-scale energy storage throughout the state including Ocean City.
As a result, DPL is going to develop a BESS on one of two lots in the 100th Street area. DPL owns one of the two lots already, and the Town of Ocean City owns a second adjacent lot behind the library. The proposal on the table is for a land swap between the town and DPL for the two lots, which are of the same size and dimension.
Completion of the land swap would allow DPS to build the BESS on the parcel behind the library in an area where town utilities currently exist. If the land swap is not consummated, DPL would develop the BESS on the lot it currently owns. As a result, DPL has submitted applications for a conditional use for both parcels.