Operating solar facilities do not produce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, odors, smoke clouds, or vapor that lead to poor air quality. Additionally, solar facilities represent a stable source of revenue for localities and impose few costs on public services.

Large-scale facilities are being built across the country to meet the nation’s electricity needs.

Landowners are exercising their personal property rights to lease their land to solar developers, helping ensure their family has a stable revenue stream over the life of the solar facility, which can be thirty or more years.

Neighbors may ask: What will this new facility mean for my community? Will it affect our farmland?

This FAQ addresses these questions.

The depth of this standard makes it a valuable resource for all Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs).

The focus of this fact sheet is on how the standard applies to electrochemical (battery) energy storage systems in Chapter 9 and specifically on lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.

However, because energy storage technologies are generally newer than most other types of grid infrastructure like substations and transformers, there are questions and claims related to the safety of a common battery energy storage technology, lithium- ion (Li-ion) batteries. All of these questions and claims can be addressed with facts. The industry continues to address these concerns to ensure community confidence in this increasingly essential electric grid infrastructure.

CLAIM: The incidence of battery fires is increasing.

FACTS: Energy storage battery fires are decreasing as a percentage of deployments.

• Between 2017 and 2022, U.S. energy storage deployments increased by more than 18 times, from 645 MWh to 12,191 MWh1, while worldwide safety events over the same period increased by a much smaller number, from two to 122.
• During this time, codes and standards regulating energy storage systems have rapidly evolved to better address safety concerns.

CLAIM: Today’s larger battery systems use tens of thousands of cells, so fires are inevitable.

FACTS: Cell failure rates are extremely low, and safety features in today’s designs further reduce the probability of fires.

• One estimate from 2012 quotes a failure rate ranging from 1 in 10 million to 1 in 40 million cells3, and there are undoubtedly improvements from these levels.
• Lithium-ion batteries experience extremely low failure rates, as shown by electric vehicle data.
• Tesla alone sold nearly 900,000 vehicles in the first half of 2023. These sales of new vehicles represent around three-quarters of a billion cells, but safety events involving all EVs on the road globally, from all manufacturers, amounted to just a few dozen fires.
• Today’s energy storage systems (ESSs) predominantly use safer lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry, compared with the nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) technology found in EVs.
• LFP cell failure results in less energy release and a lower probability of fire.
• ESS designs incorporate features to avoid propagation of cell failure within the battery, contributing to improved safety.

• Lowers energy costs: More transmission improves the efficiency of electricity markets by easing the transfer of power between regions
  to meet demand. More transmission means that consumers can potentially avoid spiking energy prices during times of high energy demand. Modern transmission technologies can also minimize line losses, saving costs for utilities and consumers alike.
• Boosts grid reliability: Increasing transmission capacity results in better grid management, reducing congestion that wastes energy and diminishing the risk of blackouts, power outages and associated economic losses. New transmission also makes it easier to bring new resources online, presenting an all-of-the-above opportunity for the range of energy resources to serve customers across the United States.
• Creates a more resilient grid: America’s outdated and aging electric grid produces more blackouts than any other developed nation and grid failures will only increase as power demands continue to rise. Transmission strengthens the grid against extreme weather events and cyberattacks by creating alternate pathways for electricity to move, minimizing the impacts of disruptions.
• Reduces economic losses and injuries: Increasing reliability and resiliency protects everyone from massive economic and human losses associated with grid failures. For instance, in 2021 Winter Storm Uri caused nearly 70 percent of Texans to lose power, leading to over 210 deaths and resulting in at least $80 billion of economic loss. Texas fared much worse than other states because of its lack of transmission connections to other states.
• Creates jobs and builds the tax base by attracting manufacturing, power-generation resources and other economic development: Robust transmission capacity attracts manufacturing facilities and other industry that brings additional jobs to the region because it allows for quick, least-cost interconnection, ensures reliability for business operations, and enables access to energy from specific types of resources where customers demand it.
• Creates good-paying jobs building transmission lines: Over one million Americans are employed in transmission, distribution and storage in the United States. Expanding transmission will create more good-paying jobs in construction, maintenance and operation. Reliable transmission attracts manufacturing and other industries, bringing additional job opportunities and making transmission a winning outcome for the local economy.

Key Takeaways:

• Studies show that there are very few negative effects on tourism and property values from offshore wind farms. Instead, tourists are drawn to coastal areas to see these innovative clean energy facilities firsthand.
• With new farms come new experiences—and new tourists: sightseeing flights or boat tours, informational centers, and viewing platforms are built, attracting a host of new tourists.
• Most beachgoers say they would be unaffected or positively affected by the presence of offshore wind farms. A survey from the University of Delaware that focused on offshore wind’s impact on 1,725 beachgoers’ experience found that the impact was minuscule.

Key takeaways from this fact sheet:

• Rapid investment surge: Clean energy investments hit $271 billion in announcements in twelve months, equivalent to eight years’ worth of American clean energy investment, surpassing the total investment in U.S. clean power projects commissioned between 2015–2022.
• Manufacturing growth and job creation: 83 new utility-scale clean energy manufacturing facilities were announced, which will create over 30,000 jobs, transforming U.S. manufacturing.
• Policy support critical for continued progress: To realize the potential from these announcements, ACP urges further reform to permitting to unlock the clean energy and transmission necessary to support a projected 1 million jobs in the sector by 2030.