Clay halts battery storage permits under six-month moratorium

A six-month moratorium has halted battery storage permits in Clay, freezing two projects already deep in the review pipeline while town officials write the rules that will govern them next.

The pause affects proposals tied to Carson Power and Nexamp, with possible sites under discussion on Wetzel Road, Long Branch Road and Goguen Drive. Town legal notices show Carson Power’s plan calls for 12 battery units at 7846 and 7850 Goguen Drive on about 2.65 acres in the I-1 Industrial 1 District. Nexamp, doing business as Wetzel Storage, LLC, is proposing Tesla Megapack batteries at 4664 Wetzel Road on about 0.92 acres in the same district, with an interconnection to the National Grid distribution system.

Both hearings were first scheduled for February 2 and later adjourned to May 18, but the town says it will not accept or approve zoning requests for special permits tied to battery energy storage systems while the moratorium is in place. The moratorium, enacted in April, is scheduled to run through October, and town discussions are set to resume June 1.

Clay’s next step is Local Law No. 4 of 2026, which would create a new Chapter 209 in the town code, the Town of Clay Battery Energy Storage System Law. The town’s notice says officials recognize battery storage as a reliable and renewable energy storage system, but also say the technology is new and Clay does not yet have a governing ordinance. The draft law would create a regulatory scheme for where battery storage can go, require compatible land uses, mitigate impacts on environmental resources and align siting with town policy and land-use goals.

The board already passed a related law April 6 after revising the original wording so it no longer applied only to new applications. Councilor Eugene Young asked that the word new be removed, a sign of how closely officials are parsing the language before permanent rules are adopted. Deputy Supervisor Joseph Bick told residents at a public hearing Monday that the town is not trying to take a position for or against battery storage in general; instead, leaders want regulatory tools before more proposals move forward.

The local fight is unfolding alongside wider pressure on Clay’s land-use system. The Town of Onondaga introduced its own six-month battery storage moratorium in March, underscoring how nearby municipalities are tightening scrutiny at the same time. Clay is also under added development pressure from Micron, after the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued the company’s Air Title V permit on March 31 for a project at White Pine Commerce Park that includes four fabrication buildings and continuous construction activity from 2025 through 2041.