STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Plans have been filed with the city Department of Buildings for a 5 MW battery energy storage system located at 2166 Forest Ave. in Mariners Harbor, directly across the street from Lowe’s Home Improvement and sandwiched within a strip of commercial businesses. The site, which according to Buildings Department documents will house six Tesla megapacks and two “XL BESS enclosures,” is expected to be complete by 2026.

“The BESS will be charged from the utility grid, and then discharged back to the utility grid during peak electricity demand time, reducing the likelihood of straining assets when the system needs them the most,” noted a detailed conditional letter of acceptance for the project, published on the Department of Buildings website. “This will extend the lifetime of existing electric infrastructure and reduce the frequency of blackouts and outages, ultimately reducing the cost of electricity.”

According to the filing, the energy storage system is part of Con Edison’s Value of Distributed Energy Resources incentive program, also known as the Value Stack — a statewide initiative to encourage the development and deployment of such resources.

Construction has already commenced at the site, which appears to have previously served as a parking lot. A green fence has been erected, and several pieces of construction equipment are already on location.

A technology that uses a group of batteries to store electrical energy, allowing the energy to be released later when needed, the storage system sites — commonly referred to as BESS — essentially act as backup power sources for homes or the grid, particularly during peak demand or power outages. They are often used in conjunction with renewable energy sources like solar power.

Developers and green energy proponents tout the lithium-ion structures — which started popping up in several NYC neighborhoods in 2022 — as quiet neighbors that are a necessary agent for renewable change. They are designed to remove pressure from the city’s stressed grid, using rechargeable batteries to store electrical energy from various sources, and then releasing that stored energy when needed.

But over the past two years, borough residents and local officials have voiced their concerns about their siting. Community Boards voted against their proximity to bakeries and storefronts and elected officials issued a moratorium on applications filed within residential districts. In one instance, an energy developer retracted plans to place batteries in a Bulls Head church parking lot.

In Buildings Department documents, the owner of this newest site is listed as Hanwha Q Cells America Inc. and the contractor as Endurant Energy. The project’s conditional acceptance letter, however, is addressed to New Leaf Energy. The Advance/SILive reached out to each of these companies for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.