Zoning Commission - Special Meeting

we're holding for Flat Iron Energy. Please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. Flag is, I guess, right behind me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Please join me in a moment of silence on our troops and our first responders. Thank you all very much. All right, we have one thing on the agenda tonight. It's anformational meeting. Um, Treebeard Best Project Company LLC proposal to construct 140 megawatt 560 megawatt hour battery energy storage facility on property located at Tuck Ridge Road map 42 lot 2.1B and one and two Timothy Lane map 42 lots 2.2 and 2.1A all in the R40 zone. This meeting will be run a little bit different than most zoning meetings. So I'm going to ask for your cooperation if that's all right. going to ask the gentleman from uh Treebear is a flat iron. Which one do you prefer, guys?

You can go with flat iron.

Flat iron um give [clears throat] their presentation. During their presentation, the commission and the members seated here will be able to ask we'll be able to ask questions and there'll be more of a dialogue at that point. Once you are completed, we'll open up for public participation. You'll be allowed to ask your questions of them. It's not going to become a debate. They'll come back. They'll take notes. They'll answer your questions. After those answers, you'll be again allowed to ask questions. This is an information I want your information that you want out there, not what we want. Then you'll have the final statement. Okay? A little bit different rules tonight, but I want to make sure everybody gets a chance to be heard with their concerns, their thoughts, and how [clears throat] they want to proceed with that. How about it? Sounds good. Thank you very much. Can every Can everybody hear me? Okay.

Yep.

Perfect. Uh so I would first just like to thank you all for carving out the time and allowing us the opportunity to present our project to you all. Um we're really looking forward to kind of formally introducing the project, talking through uh the details of that project and then hopefully being able to answer answer some of your all uh questions and having a nice dialogue. So s you want to go to the next slide. Before sort of diving into the um the meat and potatoes of the presentation, I do just want to introduce the team you have here today. So, my name is Charlie McGovern. I am the director of development here at Flat Iron Energy. Uh I will be sort of leading up the development efforts on this project. Uh as an aside, I was uh born and raised in Wilton, Connecticut. So, I'm about 30 minutes south of here. I'm a lifelong Connecticut resident. Uh with me I have Chris Groves who is our director of fire protection and safety and then also Sada Salem who is our director of environmental justice and community engagement. I also have Steve Coaches with me who is uh our thirdparty environmental and wetlands expert. As we progress through this presentation, uh, if it makes the most sense for anme to address any of the questions asked, I may ask them to come up to the podium and speak. Next slide. So, I want to set the table a little bit before diving into the project specifics. Um, what is our vision? Kind of like why are we here? Why are we working to develop these sorts of projects? Uh first I want to kind of speak through the problem at hand. Uh it's kind of twofold. Uh so within our sort of energy big picture in the United States there is a problem with increasing volatility and with that decreasing reliability. What do what do I mean by increasing volatility?

At this point in time in the United States, uh there is significant load growth that is occurring unlike anything that we have seen in our time in the United States since its electrification. Uh in addition to that, we are experiencing extreme weather weather patterns which sort of further um sparked that as an issue. In addition to that, we have the issue of decreasing reliability. What I mean by that is our energy infrastructure is very much so aging. Uh in order to keep up with the load growth that I alluded to earlier, we do need to very much so update that energy infrastructure in order to keep up with that load. If we are unable to do so, uh we run the risk of rolling brownouts, rolling blackouts and and it does pose a real problem to the electricity consumer. Let me ask question.

Yeah. What's the projected load growth for this part of Connecticut and for Connecticut in general and then for the United States in general over the next 10 years? That's a great question. I do not have that specific load growth number with me right now. I'd be happy to take a note and then get that back to you. We're going to ask you there probably be a lot of questions you may have to take notes on at this meeting. We're going to ask you to take those notes and if so, we may have some that we've also written down. I have some somebody else other people do. We'll give them to you. We'd appre appreciate written responses so we can incorporate that into the zoning report that we have out of this meeting. Absolutely. Happy to. So thank you. Yes.

By the way, on the low growth, not just Connecticut, ISO New England, which is I know you've mentioned that I'm very familiar with it, but also through the United States. Yeah. Happy to sort of segment that down for you, give you the big picture. Thanks.

Absolutely. So the solution, where do we sort of step in and help with that solution? Uh this country will need more energy in order to um sort of contrast those issues that I laid out. Uh that sort of situation is even further inflated in a population dense region like New England. So what these battery energy storage systems are able to do is essential essentially act as pretty much a part of the grid by providing capacity services. Uh and with that it enables greater energy generation to come online uh more adequately. So what is our mission within that? Uh our mission is to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change and environmental injustice through the development of these utility scale battery energy storage systems. Next slide. So a little bit about the team at large here and kind of our experience and what we're doing as a as a company. So we are a US-based company uh with a strategic focus on development in the Northeast. uh a little bit about what we're doing right now as a company. So we currently have a 200 megawatt battery energy storage system that is under construction in Oxbridge, Massachusetts. Uh that project is currently under construction and slated to come online end of year 2026. Uh when sort of looking back on the experience of the team as a whole, we have a track record of building over 20 operational utility utility scale battery energy storage systems. Um those projects have all been developed and are now operating safely and incident free. We have a very deep understanding and expertise in this technology type. Uh we have dealt in many different sizes of these projects. We have also operated

across multiple different voltage classes. Uh just sort of highlighting our our depth of experience within the space. We have additionally have very strong experience in sort of capital raising for these types of developments um with over 40 billion of capital across flat iron careers uh having been deployed. Next slide. So, a little bit about why here, why Connecticut, why New Milford, and kind of the benefits that this project can bring to you all. I like to kind of segment this into different subcategories. So, first uh economic, this will act as a new source of tax revenue uh and increase the tax base for the rateayers. We have already had some preliminary conversations on an interest with the mayor and his staff about a potential tax stabilization agreement as well. Should that be beneficial and interesting to the town. Touched on this a little bit earlier about um the need to modernize our grid. Uh this sort of project does allow for the avoidance of very very costly ne network upgrades to the transmission system. Uh very often those network upgrades uh modernizing sort of these these transmission transmission technologies that we all depend on uh is is costly to the rateayer and can get passed through to the rateayer. Uh in this situation, the project developer will pay all costs to interconnect into the grid.

Addition, excuse me, are there any upgrades to the grid? I mean, you said that you have aging infrastructure. I read in your proposal, it's 115 kilovolt line. That's a big line, correct? Um there's a transmission line running through the property. Do you have to upgrade that line, add lines to that transmission line or what? Or does it can accept it now? I don't know how loaded it is.

Yeah, it's a good question. Um within our and I get to this a little bit later in the presentation but within our uh interconnection study process with Eversource uh we went through like an entire entire study process multi-phase to identify what sort of network upgrades would be triggered in order to have the capability to plug into the transmission system. Um, there are a subset of network upgrades that will be funded by the developer through our sort of like contractual payment obligation. Um, I'm happy to provide you with like a breakdown of what those specific upgrades are. There's kind of a list of them. It's not as to my knowledge, it's not as simple as just like upgrading a singular line. There's points in which like multiple parts that are interconnected do need to be upgraded to

allow for this sort of capacity to come online. Okay, that'll be great.

Yeah, happy to do it. Okay. Uh, another point. So, once this project is sort of under construction, there will be the creation of many many construction jobs, temporary construction jobs. During that construction phase, all of these folks will be shopping at your your local centers, eating at your local restaurants, living in your local lodging options. there will be a a strong boost during that time to the local economy. Uh in addition to that, as a company, we really like to focus on tailoring these sorts of local partner partnerships with the towns that we are operating in via host community agreements. We like to leave that very much so open-ended with the town. Uh whatever your community is is needing to feel well equipped to to host this project. Um we will work with you. My colleague Sada is sort of the the point person for that within our company. So if there are questions on that, I'm sure Sada would be more than willing to kind of walk you through our perspective on that and how we like to go about that with with the towns. So [clears throat] second subcategory here, resiliency. And I I touch on this a little bit in my in my earlier slide, but with this sort of uh capacity resource coming online, it significantly lowers the likelihood of blackouts and brownouts by lessening the strain on the local distribution system, which obviously is critical in a stage where load growth is is so rampant. From an environmental perspective, uh this is a zero emission capacity use which is obviously very attractive. Uh this also enables greater renewable energy grid penetration and energy just energy penetration at large to come onto the grid. Um and it does sort of take the place of a dirtier capacity resource which would be like a

natural gas peaker plant which obviously does have an emission profile. I guess one question I have and I apologize for asking so many questions but you're getting into a lot of what I had already. You mentioned it's at zero zero emissions during the generation phase when you com have you compared it to the lifespan from cradle to grave against a coal fire in a gas fire plant from because mining lithium and refining it is very costly. I don't know if it's 10 to one or 100 to one to get usable lithium out of whatever you mine. It's a big number. lot of lot of energy is used. So while it may be green at the end, it's not green to develop it. So my question is, have you compared them?

That's a great it's a great question. Um, from like a soup to nuts analysis, I I do not think I have that resource with me right now, but I again would be happy to take pen on that homework assignment and sort of that was a few years ago. Yeah. Yeah. Happy to do happy to do the homework on it. Okay. Thank you.

Mhm. So, last but certainly not least, um, and it kind of goes handin-hand with that host community agreement piece. Uh, when we enter into a community like like New Milford's, we we like to stress this this sort of engagement, but also the educational piece. Um, we've already had some some really good conversations with the local fire department about how we would like to come into come into the community and educate on the safety element of this of this project and the underlying technology. But with that also, we'd be more than happy to work with the community at large to educate on the technology. Um, we would like to work with you all to understand how you would best like to see that piece sort of formulated. Um and and going forward we hope there is is good engagement on that level. Next slide please. All righty. So prior to diving into more of like a a site design walkth through I do just want to hit on a couple key cogs of the overarching uh design intent here. So as was mentioned at the introduction, this is a 140 megawatt 4-hour battery energy storage system as we are scheduled right now the anticipated completion of development would come late Q2 early Q3 of 2028. Uh with respect to the technologies utilized on this site, um I will I will caveat with the fact that this is very much so in its preliminary stage. That's why we are talking to you all. We're we're dealing with the Connecticut Sighting Council as well. So the the layout and the technologies utilized are iterative in nature as at this stage in the development. But one thing that will always within Flat Iron's development uh stay steadfast at least right now is the use of lithium iron phosphate battery cells. Uh we are a safety first company.

These are by and large the most researched and thoroughly vetted underlying battery chemistry that is commercially available. Uh and and so it is the only battery chemistry that we will consider at this time. The interconnection type this it's been discussed a bit but it will interconnect at the 115 KV voltage class via a a line tap. So there's a there's existing 115 KV overhead lines that sort of biseect the pro uh sort of the the controlled area up in up in yellow there. Uh we would basically just be line tapping directly via a gentile line stemming from our project which you'll see on the next slide. Uh directly into those existing lines site characteristics. While we may control roughly 100 acres uh total via options, right now the total sort of developable footprint of the site itself will really only be about 10 acres. Uh this is as mentioned zoned R40 and our design intent would be be to avoid any sort of environmental constraint that we have surveyed for on site. Can

you explain why only 10 are developable? Yeah. So, it's not that only 10 are physically developable, although sort of the big the big boot shape is obviously riddled with a good deal of wetlands. Um, it's really just a dense technology. That's for this sort of size of a project. That is the total footprint we will need in order to get the required electrical equipment as well as everything else such as like internal roadways developed.

But you could place these in other areas. It's like I said, we have run a tremendous amount of survey work up the boot shape there and we within this design intent we we fully would like to avoid stepping on the toes of any sort of environmental impact. Uh this is riddled with wetlands and we do avoid that and have a very sturdy setback from those wetlands within our design intent. So is that a yes or no? You can't develop any we can't put any other units on any of the other property or you can as as we have surveyed it. This is the best place to lay our battery for the current one. Can you add a second one? This

Oh, you're saying to like augment down the line. Understood. Um that's it's a tough question for me right now because we have really only focused our survey work on like the best optimal place to lay a battery site. With that said, uh you can do a lot with different sorts of earthwork. So is it possible for batteries to be laid elsewhere on site? Sure. But I think at that point it's kind of like at what cost to the lands and preserving the lands. Other sites that you have developed after you did phase one. Have you started phase two?

Not at flat not at flat iron but in previous careers. Yes. So it is open that this could expand.

Oh understood on the question there. So here's here's how I'll answer that part of the question. In order for this to expand, you would need to it's basically maxed out electrically via the LGIA we have with Eversource at 140 megawws. That is a very lengthy process to study a project electrically. So in order to add any additional megawws to this POI, POI being point of interconnection, you would have to run an entire new interconnection study which is a multi-year process. you possibly set up standby

understood. We and within you'll see it in the next site but or in the next slide all we have already laid out an augmentation like practice here. So all of this all of the uh batteries that you will see laid out account for the initial batteries and then the augmentation batteries which are like you said basically laid down due to depreciation in performance over time. So that would fall within the disturbed footprint that we that we already have. [snorts] But would you set up standby batteries? So in other words, you have you have your battery strings, correct?

Would you on the other land there set up a whole set of standby batteries in case in case you need them?

Understood. No, there would be no storage of additional batteries anywhere outside of the like 10ish acre development footprint. Good. Cool. All righty. So, one thing I do want to hit on within this slide is the project timeline. I want to lay out not only what has been done to date, but also kind of place us where we are right now within that project timeline. So, we've talked a good deal now about the interconnection process and sort of that study process. We have been studying the feas the electrical feasibility of this project for like I said it takes a long time since 2022. So we have been working with Eversource on going through the different stages of their interconnection study process and as of September 2025 we have an LGIA executed with the utility. That is a large generator interconnection agreement. It is basically the contract you will sign with the utility for like electrical the ability to plug into the grid. Right? We have vetted this electrically. We have an agreement with the utility. Where we are at right now, we are actively engaged with the Connecticut Sighting Council regarding our certificate for environmental compatibility and public need. That is the sort of driving permit here. We have submitted our draft application to both the town council, the mayor's office, as well as all of the other required parties. And from a process perspective, we are now in our municipal engagement window. So from the state process perspective, we need to enga be in this municipal engagement window for roughly it's 60 days. It's a minimum of

60 days. I do just want to let it be known that at Flat Iron, we try to engage throughout the entire preconstruction, construction, and life cycle of the project with the local municip municipality. So, that 60-day minimum engagement window ideally will not be the end of our engagement with the town. We like to be a part of the town uh and be having those conversations as as we go and continuing to engage. Next slide. When did the window open?

The window opened on October 15th. October 15, 2025 was when everybody received the draft application and we're hearing about it today. No, the draft application was submitted to the town council folks as well as the mayor's office. So the 60-day window, we're already what? 10 10:15. Yeah. So this is like the 50th day of a 60-day window. We're having a meeting today.

Correct. I will I will let it be known there have been additional conversations that have been had. On 10:31, we had a meeting with the mayor's office and his staff. We have had a number of conversations with Jim Furlow, who is the wetlands enforcement officer, and then we have had, I believe, two calls to date with the fire department uh on engagement there. So, we are willing to have as many conversations with whoever would like to talk to us as possible beyond that 60-day minimum. Uh we're not viewing it as a minimum. So we are more than willing to have multiple of these and uh we've also offered up the ability to have open houses as well where we would basically in a less formalized setting bring a team of subject matter experts both internal [clears throat] and external to flat iron and have an open dialogue with anybody who would like to come and learn more about the project and our process. And I talk about that a little bit later on in the slide. our our intent to hopefully schedule that with you all.

You mentioned the fire department. What is your fire prevention in that building? You're saying like within the Oh, we're on the next slide. Okay. You're saying within like the battery containers themselves. Yeah. So within and I will have Chris opine if if I don't hit all the notes here but uh within the battery containers themselves there will be a a coolant like a liquid coolant. Um but there will be no sort of like sprinkler or extinguishing uh retardant that will emit should there be a fire event.

No no extinguishing. No FM200 or anything of that source. Correct. And so I didn't realize we're on the next slide, but my intent with this slide is to sort of walk through everything that you're seeing on on the uh on the slide here and make it be known kind of what everything is doing and and why it's there and its critical critical sort of role within the uh proposed layout if that works for everybody. So, working sort of west to east here, uh, you're going to see

there you go. [laughter] Apologies. You're going to see a couple of like blue areas to the west and then the southeast. Those are our proposed storm water retention basins. What is driving that is a very thorough grading and drainage plan that we have created. So this isn't this doesn't show the the grading and drainage plan, but we do have that within we have a draft plan within the application that you all had received. And if there are any questions on the grading and drainage plan and approach, uh Steve with VHB would be more than happy to kind of walk you guys through that as we go. Uh continuing along, you're going to see sort of that that square shape and then the rectangular shape that will act as so the northern square will act as the Eversource switchyard and then the one south of that will be our collector substation. The primary function of those is basically to take in energy from the grid at that 115 KV voltage class and on the flip side of that also sends the stored energy out to the grid. Uh you're going to see sort of that green line in the top corner that is the proposed genti route. So that sort of transmission like the shorter transmission line that will make its way out to the western 115 KV lines [music] to effectively plug our project into the grid. We are actively working with Eversource on that routing effort. Uh moving along, we already mentioned sort of the blue battery containers, but those are where we will store our batteries as well as our inverters. So our battery's primary function is to store that energy that is coming from the grid and then when it is most needed discharge back to the grid and then the inverters that will be housed within the

battery containers their primary function is to shift that electricity from AC to DC and then DC to AC. So alternating currents to direct current and vice versa depending on if we are charging or discharging. What's your duty [clears throat] cycle on discharging? Do do we have that number? Okay, we'll take we'll take a note on that because I think it is it's technology dependent. So the ones I've looked at in the past are you discharge once a day for best use. So I'm just curious if you're doing that if you're going off the price of New England demand prompts to you.

Understood. So contractually I will caveat with the fact that [snorts] we do not yet have like an offtake arrangement with CTE. They are due to come to market in Q1 of 26. So how that will look and sort of the contractual obligations we have electrically remains to be seen. Um, but I'm happy to kind of take take pen and do a little bit of a homework assignment on sort of the technologies that that we are planning to potentially implement to this site itself. Okay.

Excellent. All righty. So, you're also going to see in between all of the best units some what are basically small gray rectangular shapes. These are meant to represent the transformers on site which will both step up and step down the voltage of the electricity uh depending on where we are at within the the charging and discharging process. Then outside of there you have your internal roadways which will be IFC compliant. Those are the gray areas. uh in sort of the southwest portion of the fencedin area, there's going to be some some storage area and a like an on andm building effectively. There will be parking on site and then there this all will be fenced in. So outside of that, I think you kind of get outside of the fence line and you start to talk about um stuff outside of the really disturbed area. But if you look all the way to the east of the project bounds, we do show some like tree planting. Uh there already is, if you're familiar with the area, a tremendous amount of like vegetative cover via the existing trees that sit there. We have a landscaping plan that we are working through and would love to kind of work through with you all as well as the states to hopefully uh help to bolster that vegetative screening effort um and and really work with you all on on on attaining that. If you look at the southern portion of the visual there is sort of that that green oddshaped piece that is a delineated wetland that we had surveyed. We keep a 50-foot setback from that wetland from a minimum 50-ft setback from that wetland to the fence line and then a minimum 100 ft setback to the nearest built structure.

Are there any questions on this slide presently? We can always come back to it. Why New Milford? Why New Milford? Yeah.

Yeah, it's a it's a great question. Um, I think what really drove this from the start was the very attractive interconnection thesis. So, you're talking about a plot of land that is directly adjacent to a 115 KV transmission line with limited network upgrade spend needed. So, a lot of times when you're vetting one of these projects, it'll look like a really good place to just develop a battery project, but you start to test the feasibility of different parts of the project, and for one reason or the other, it'll fall out of competitiveness. So, you could test the feasibility of the electrical piece of one of these projects, and you could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars of network upgrades. That no longer works. So in this instance, we were able to find a spot that had a palatable amount of network upgrades to make this a competitive project for the state of Connecticut.

So I have a question for you. So you're talking about the wetlands, but uh have you mapped out where the aquifer sits? Because when I looked at the maps, it looks like we're sitting right on top of the aquifer. Yes. So we are aware of where the aquifer protection area falls. It is on our site. So yeah, we we are aware of where that fits. are sitting on the aquifer. I'm sorry. So, you are sitting on the aqua. A part of the pro a part of the project falls within the aquifer protection area. Okay. Thank y any any further questions on this slide? Yeah. On this slide, can we in the future get a full picture of what this site's going to look like? Not just this everything.

Yes. Like a 3D rendering almost. So, that is in the works presently. Uh we would hope by the next engagement we will have a fully fully blown rendering set for everybody to be able to look at. Like to see some of your other sites so we could see real life what the buildings are going to look like. You know you just take some pictures of your site in Massachusetts. I think I was reading or something. Yes. Just so we get an idea of what we're looking at. For sure. So I'm asking for two things.

100%. Uh so the site in Massachusetts is like I said it's it's actively under construction. I was out there call it a month ago and they were they were at the stage where they were just moving a tremendous amount of dirt and doing a lot of earth work. So as is presently it does not look like a battery site but I would be more than happy to pull a number of visuals for you kind of indicating what this sort of battery project may look like in in like a rural setting. I got a followup to that. Um so you said there were over 20 right projects that you've done before. So what about looking at any of those?

Yeah. Yeah. So those 20 projects were meant and I I think I caveed this talking about the career development arc of everybody on our team specifically our development team. So we've all we all came from different shops and those are developments that were made during that time period. The second you're my understanding that you have Massachusetts as the first that's still under construction then we'd be the second site for what you guys are working So there are a number of developments that are at least pro either equal to this stage of development or a little bit more advanced all within the northeast.

How many sites has flat irons actually developed? Not as a career move but as a company. Yeah. So our first project that will be energized is the 200 megawatt project located in Oxbridge, Massachusetts. Any any further questions on this slide? What's the setback from the road? Yep. Good question. So the setback So the setbacks that we implement are from the fence line to the parcel line. That is a 100 foot setback. And yeah, so effectively the the road line there 100 feet

100 feet from the center of the road from the side of the road. No, from the from the parcel line parcel bounds. Correct. Okay. And the house across the street house across the street nearest resident would be roughly 160 ft. And to the tennis club, I do not have the northern set back to the start of that. Looks quite a bit further. Okay. I'm sorry. It looks quite a bit further, but yeah. Yeah. Just to give you an idea, and I don't know if anybody from any of the development teams within the town have told you this, when zoning looks at a project like this, we don't want the neighbors to see you at any of the four seasons. Okay, understood.

Which means different types of trees, all native to Connecticut, undergrowth, brush, you know, bushes, well-maintained. That would be one of our requirements that actually came before zoning. Note taken. Understood.

Yeah. So, we currently have the the property under option. So, uh we've not triggered those options yet, but the final like the final real estate strategy would be to own the property. Are you gonna talk about noise? Noise? Yeah.

Yeah, I'm happy to. Um, so CTD deep uh has basically these states these state guidance from a like basically you have an emitter class and then a receptor class. So their guidance on decibel range is based on those classifications. So in our instance, we would be a class C industrial emitter and the nearest receptor would be a class A residential receptor. So there are there are guidelines on what that decibel range would need to be and we fully intend to comply with those guidelines.

So if you're 150 ft if you're the neighbor and you're 150 ft away, what are they going to hear? It really I think right now it fully depends on how we lay out the site and how we our noise studies go and the different sort of mitigative actions that we can take. Can you estimate in in in what sort of unit? 70 dB 90 dB. I'm happy to. I I do have a number here. So the thresholds is sort of based on like daytime and nighttime thresholds. So with these receptor classes, the it would basically be 61 dB during the daytime and then 51 dB during the night time to the house. Correct.

150 ft. Correct. So a quiet air condition. I'm sorry. So roughly a quiet air conditioning but the hum will be there constantly. Okay. Yep. Dr. Noise study that I read in the back of one of the appendices of your draft proposal indicated that the duty cycle of the fans of each of those units is makes is is a big deal of meeting those noise requirements. Mhm.

I think the nighttime was 30% duty cycle on those fans. Daytime was 50% if I remember the numbers correctly. And you barely made those those numbers. So, how are you going to ensure that you maintain those duty cycles to make the noise levels and how are you going to measure the consistency?

It's a great question. Um, I'm going to answer it kind of twofolds here. One, I will just caveat that that is a preliminary noise study. We are continuing to sort of work through that noise study work with our consultants. But you raised a great question about the duty fan cycle. You the way we will do it is we will work with the OEM. So basically the original the original equipment manufacturer on setting a limitation based on the noise study for that duty fan cycle. So it's not like it'll be subject to like human error where on a given day if the technology is set a specific way you can go above that and be out of compliance. You will be technologically limited to a certain duty fan cycle. Will you be using any noise isolation systems around these battery containers?

It's a good question. Uh like I said, these the noise the final noise study is is yet to be set. So until we have that recommendation from a final noise study, uh I wouldn't want to give you wrong information and so I don't have our final noise approach yet, but remains to be seen. One final question on noise. At 160 ft, you say you're going to be 51 dibels at night. What's the sound on site? It's a good question. I do not drops off pretty rapidly as a with distance. So, it's a pretty noisy site then. Yeah, we will take a note on that and try to provide you with a range of how that decibel level dissipates with space if that if that works for you.

Um, happy to try to provide you a lot. You guys are you know talking about a lot of experience. Um, you should know these numbers already. you can give us a rough estimate estimation based on other things that you've built on on the noise levels. I don't know why you have to look at this one.

Yeah. So, like I said, it's it's not a number that is set in stone for a certain technology, right? You're we were we were just talking about how there's multiple levels of duty fan cycle. So like those percentages will swing the decibel level severely and then it swings across uh different technologies as well. So I wish it was as simple as there's one level for each type of battery. Um there's a massive range and these technologies are always changing on a like monthly basis essentially for imp with improvements on this sort of stuff. So it's not a stagnant data point. It is an ever evolving data point based on technological advance.

I'm just asking for a potential range based on your experience with the other 20 sites that you have behind you. I mean, you're swinging from 50 to 90, 50 to 100. I mean, I'm not hearing a real number yet. I I will take a note and get you that number. We do have people internal to flat iron who are much more specified to like noise engineering than I would be as the as the so I mean the distances that I'd be interested in is at the road basically and then at 150 ft to the neighbor that's what those you know it would be really nice to have a range that we could expect a real number.

Yeah absolutely. So, I think that number that I did provide would be the like the m the threshold at the house. But if you're looking for something closer to the site, like the point source, I'd be happy to get that for you. Do you have a completed site that you can actually use as an example? You're saying for the decibb, in other words, a site that's complete up and running for the last year or two that you could use as an example for the amount of noise that's going to be coming out of it. and what it will be 150 ft away.

Yeah, like I said, our latest stage development is currently under construction. So, I wouldn't have a flat iron specific data point, but these OEMs are flush with data on these sorts of studies. I would be happy to compile that for all of you and try to give you a a a noise report on how these things typically will work out based on you know the the handful of OEMs that we will consider for this sort of development. We don't have a real life example at Flat Iron. No, we do not. Excuse me.

That's okay. Just a reminder. Thanks. Go ahead. Good. Okay. Can you go to the next slide, Sada? So, now I'm going to have my colleague Chris come up and sort of walk you through our approach to safety. Um, and then and then we'll move on from there. Chris, good to go.

Hey, uh, thank you for having us. Uh my name is Chris Groves. I'm a director of fire protection safety um prior to Flat Iron Energy. I worked for a major uh battery manufacturer um on compliance testing of these systems. Um and I also uh currently um a technical committee member uh on both Underwriters Laboratory uh for 9540 which is the uh standard for energy storage systems and I uh also am on uh NFP 855 or National Fire Protection Association task groups um for energy storage uh systems. Um so we we take a layered approach um to these systems. Uh obviously from the selection of the battery equipment uh we're only using tier one manufacturers um that are ulisted uh for ESS or U battery systems. Um they go through rigorous uh compliance testing including um fire safety as well as electrical safety. um they have built-in uh safety systems that are compliant to the latest requirements of NFP 855 which is the standard that uh oversees these installations. Um from a site perspective um I lead the engagement with the local fire department. Uh we have an internal set of guidelines for designing these sites taking into account uh fire department access uh access road requirements uh water availability uh spacing of the units. Um so we never uh uh say exceed uh the manufacturers or the code uh requirements. Um obviously we have already engaged with the local fire department uh and talked to them a little bit about the project um and getting any concerns they have from from

their side. Um if it comes to training uh that's standard on these systems. So we will create a sight specific uh emergency response plan. We will provide training to the fire department uh before the system actually gets turned on. And then we provide annual refresher training uh due to any staff turnovers. Uh and we also do um voluntary uh site inspections uh based on the latest uh fire code revisions that come out every three years. Um

what is the protocol to you that you use if a fire breaks out in one of the containers? Uh it is a observe and contain approach. Um so depending on the severity of the the incident uh will depend on their approach. Um for these type of systems um the fire department would stage outside of the gate um to the systems uh they would not be allowed to enter until our subject matter uh subject matter experts are notified uh and allow access into the site. Uh these systems are designed to um say fail safe. So they're designed and have undergone compliance testing to demonstrate that it is contained within a single unit and it won't spread from one unit to another unit.

Um again we have um we'll have a subject matter expert uh 247 available for the fire department. Uh they will be dispatched to the site um if the incident requires it. Um that team is located in Connecticut. Uh they would arrive on site likely within one hour uh of the initial call. That is uh to assess the fire department in sizing up the scene um and any uh remediation that may be required after um the incident happens. Is there any protective equipment required from fume exhaust from the fire that escapes the container? Anything like that? Any

No. So the emissions from a battery fire are very similar to a household uh fire. Um these systems are set back uh outside say 100 foot uh from the property lines um which is deemed a remote location. Um the uh emissions dissipate very quickly into the air. uh initial plume studies show that there is no uh public concern um or hazard uh to past uh the roadway uh east of the site even when factoring in high winds and the prevailing winds in the area

any debris possibly leak into the into the aquifer underneath us. So with the observe and contain approach um uh if there was a fire incident uh the fire department would not be offensively fighting the fire uh trying to suppress the fire. It would be used on cooling exposure to any adjacent units if required. Uh so we're not anticipating actually using uh fire water on the site. Uh again it would be observe and contain uh use water as needed. Okay. any special equipment that they need for this project um that the talent have to purchase?

Yeah. So, the chief um did indicate that he uh would like some equipment for their teams. Um that will be captured in our host community agreement. Uh he has not yet provided that list. Um but we're happy to uh provide that for his department. Um again um as the project matures uh we will be sharing um sight specific uh documentation with the fire department and the fire marshall uh for this equipment. Um providing emergency response training. Um we will also capture as I mentioned in the host community agreement any equipment that they may required. Uh we do have again that 247 emergency response plan with teams local in uh uh Connecticut uh to assess the local fire department should an incident happen. Um and we will be um again uh yeah engaging with the fire department um working with them um in anything they need. So in the event of a fire um is it recommended or required evacuation from the local houses?

No. Um u depending on the the prevailing winds and uh the size of the incident um at least the initial plume study shows that there is no uh no expectations of the plume traveling outside of the property boundaries. Uh that would be uh detrimental to to uh the public safety. Um, typically in these sorts of incidents, it's a shelter in place. Um, unless, uh, yeah, uh, shelter in place would be the the primary um, response. Our our emergency responders would be recommending whether they should stay in the area or not. I'm sorry.

If the winds are heading in the wrong direction, they're going towards the house, then I'm assuming then they would be requested to uh, evacuate. They they would be sheltered in place. uh would be the typical response. U if there were say excessive uh winds in the area, uh typically you would employ a fog type um pattern um from say a fire apparatus. Uh you can knock down those uh those emissions as well.

That part of town is in a gully. So if it's a hot summer day and there are no winds, where is all that going? It's just going to sit right there in the neighborhoods because it's not going to go into any prevailing winds or anything where it's in a gully that that area. Yes, the emissions dissipate very quickly uh once they they go into the air. There's no wind to break them down. I mean, just a I'm just saying if there if if there's a fire and there's no wind, it's just going to all sit there. I can't see how it's just going to break up.

So, there is hydraulic ventilation that could also be utilized uh if the fire department wanted to say move uh emissions around on site or prevent it from going uh outside of the property boundaries. And your company has people 24/7 to answer any call.

Yeah. So, um we employ a group of battery experts. Um uh they are subject matter experts. Uh they're typically firefighters um that are off duty. Uh they will respond 247 uh to any incident response. All right. I can throw it back to Charlie. [clears throat]

Okay. So that that does conclude sort of the the majority of our presentation here. I know when you had laid out the structuring of how we will go about this. You had mentioned there would be like a closing statement. I don't know if you would like us to hold this slide as a part of that closing statement and then we move into kind of the question format here given this is like more of a next step slide before you go on to the audience. I guess I'm not sure why they're going to do that. You're you're in a 100red-year flood. I'm assuming that these are built above a few feet above the uh potential flood stage.

Yeah, correct. We are aware of the 100 foot flood zone that we are in. Our drainage plan takes into account that that sort of event and makes it so that should there be an event of that nature, we have proper drainage. So you are correct. So the the batteries are above the flood plane or not the 100red-year flood level. I I can easily have Steve, would you like to speak to this so you can walk them through the drainage plan? Yeah. I'll just address the question. [clears throat]

So, Steve Coaches, um, licensed professional engineer in Connecticut with VHB. Um, the batteries, the current grading plan that we have right now has the batteries all about 4 feet minimum above the flood zone and the substation in Switchyard are about 3 feet above the flood plane as well. Okay, thank you. What happens in 10 years if your company fails and closes?

It's a good question. Um really what what is going to going to be standing up this project is that long-term arrangement with the utility. Right? So should there be an event where you know Flat Iron is no longer or there is a sale, somebody will step into that contract and within that contract there are contractual agreements on how this project will have to be run going forward. I've seen where [snorts] companies like yours fail, someone else does come in and the standard is much lower than what you guys have done. And you know that is a concern and there's nothing we won't know it because we won't see it.

The gentlemen and ladies and gentlemen that'll be working there will know it but uh we won't see it. you know, we'll just on the outside just say, "Okay, there's the building." So, there's really no guarantee that if your company fails that this site will still be running how you guys would run it. It's a good flag, but I will just let it be known that there are like it's not only Flat Iron who will have eyes on the operation of this site, right? There's Eversource, there is ISO New England. There are much larger governing bodies to this project who will ensure the safe and well-run operation of this project going forward regardless of operator.

How often would Eversource be on site inspecting the site? Rarely. um really what they will be responsible for overseeing on like a a specific cadence basis will be that switchyard and then the genti so can I just add one more thing there will be a decommissioning bond so that decommissioning bond is going to help the demission project incident and such that doesn't exist that will be to the

I I'll I'll repeat it. Um you're good. S was saying that there also will be a decommissioning bond put in place uh at the start of this project development as sort of like a financial back back stop and assurance against any sort of unforeseen circumstances like you laid out. Correct. What's the life expectancy of a plant like this? Of a project like this? Yeah. Yeah. Roughly call it 20 to 25 years of operation. What happens after that? So there will be a decommissioning plan that it comes down. You don't you don't rebuild it to keep it going. You just take it down.

It it sort of it's case specific, but there will be a decommissioning plan that we are already working through right now uh that outlines what that process will look like. So any sort of electrical infrastructure that can be recycled will be recycled for a different or the same use down the line. Anything that cannot be recycled will be safely removed within the standards that it needs to be removed. And then we will basically return the land back to the existing nature that it was in prior to our being here. So you expect the batteries uh to last that period of time? I mean if you if you have a failure you pick one up and you replace it with another one or how does that work?

Yeah. So the way we go about that process is we basically have from the offset an augmentation plan based on the expected degradation of those batteries over the basically life cycle of the project. So when you look at not sort of the viewer friendly site layout that we popped up on the screen, you will see that we differentiate between original batteries that will be on site and this is all within the gated area that I flashed on the screen and then augmentation batteries as well which are for that exact use that you laid out.

How many do you expect? I mean I guess I'm interested in how many you would use. I mean how many batteries are on the site now as planned? I don't have that specific number on that site layout, but within the draft application, I believe we have like the mega pack count uh for the layout. This is all Yeah, just so you happy to also follow up with a full equipment count as to what will be on site um and just give you all of those numbers. Again, this is a preliminary plan. I was kind of curious as a change, you know, you change battery every 10 years if you need to. I mean,

yeah, each each augmentation plan is sort of sight specific um based on the megawattage and the amount of batteries that you have on site at the start. So, it is kind of like a sightspecific strategy, so to speak. But I'm more than happy to follow up via email and just call out that that layout within the draft application that does sort of differentiate the augmented batteries or the augmentation batteries and the original batteries. Okay. Yeah. Got a couple more questions that weren't answered in your slide deck. Is that about your draft proposal? That's okay to go through that now before open to the public. [clears throat] Absolutely.

All right. You made a comment in section 3A of the introduction that this project is less impactful to the environment and ecologically than bene and more beneficial than a housing project. Can you explain what you mean by that and how you came to that conclusion because it's not obvious.

Sure. So it kind of revisits the the thesis that I was harping on at the beginning of the slide where or at the beginning of the deck, apologies, where this part of the country and really the country at large is in critical need of capacity services due to the aging electrical infrastructure. the ability for us to interconnect into the grid at this point and provide such a service to really like the local distribution system. Uh it's huge for the local resiliency of this community. It enables basically this group to have much greater safety in the fact that when you go to flip the light switch on or turn the heat on or turn the air conditioning on, wherever this distribution system is, there's a much lower likelihood of that being endangered. So, I think that's sort of the the driver for why we think this is so important to the local community.

You also made a comment on the May come up to the mic, sir. Um the other part of that is the impact. These are low impact projects, meaning there's not going to be trucking coming in and out. It doesn't add to the localized pollution. It won't add traffic. There is the construction phase, but overall when it's operational, it's a very stagnant um ind like storage unit. There won't be trucking. There won't be any increase in traffic again. And it won't increase localized pollution in the community. Wild to wildlife. it. I can't speak to that, but I'll pass it back to

Yeah, absolutely. It's a great question. Um we have been working actively with NDB so the natural diversity database at the state level to understand should there be any sort of state listed or federally listed species that could potentially be on this site post our survey work what what would be the best management practice to ensure that they are not displaced that there is no sort of jeopardization to their well-being. So we have been very proactive in our communications with the state on that matter. [clears throat]

The draft application also states that the pro the proposed project falls within the intensity uses is allowed within via special permit in the R40 zone. The R4 our zoning regulations are very specific about what's allowed in a zone and what is not. Power plants utilities are not allowed in an R40 zone. Now pure can override that. So can the siding council but the um that was a misleading in my mind that was slightly misleading in the draft proposal does not accurately rec reflect the zoning regulations of the town of new in Milford. You should consider revising that. It's a good note. Thank you. Appreciate the comment.

You say you're going to test the facility annually or the best will be tested annually. Is that enough?

So there will be a total like a very strict cadence on when different operators of the system will be on site. So we will work with the OEM, so the equip the original equipment manufacturer as to when they will need to be on site to test the batteries and make sure that the batteries are working correctly. We will have like an operations and maintenance professional one or two of them whose really sole job is to ensure that all parts of the battery project are working correctly. So this will not get touched on just an annual basis but throughout on a on multiple different annual cycles based on all the different parts of the project

process monitor remotely for safety for basically health. Yes. of the battery systems. Great question. Uh there will be a remote control center from which the the project will be s like watched and monitored on a 247 365 basis. However, as you saw on sort of the site plan, there will also be an operations and maintenance office on site should somebody need to be on site for different checkups, different parts of the project. So, yeah. What's the contractor response time with the with the operation and maintenance crew? Should the fault occur and you pick it up at your remote center? So, you're saying

if you find a fault come across from your monitoring, what's the response time to get on site? It kind of goes back to the same point that Chris made. The way that communication will work is those who are running the control room will see a fault or an irregularity, they will immediately elevate that to both the safety subject matter expert. So in that case, it would be somebody local to Connecticut as well as flat iron. And as Chris had mentioned, in this situation, the proximity is quite nice where they would be on site within an hour. Okay.

Yeah, Chris is going to expand a bit as well. There's two um kind of different pieces there. So all these systems as part of the warranty requirements u we will have long-term service agreements for them. Um so that maintenance schedule is dependent on the manufacturer that's selected. Typically it's a uh by annually or annually uh maintenance. Um mo all these systems are monitored 247. So they have different levels of uh warnings and alarms. Uh anything that's deemed a warning not immediately affecting the unit um is typically ticketed and then followed up on the next service visit. If it's any um system that's deemed a fault or um potentially that could escalate to um say a thermal incident. Um the system's automatically disconnected uh and that ticketing is uh escalated uh as a priority. Uh you mentioned tier one vendors. You only you work with tier one vendors. I noticed Tesla was the cut sheet that you used. Tesla mega pack I think. Forget which the number was. Um do these systems meet by American the by American act.

So the uh the Tesla mega pack product is is built in uh California or Texas. Okay. So it does meet by American. And about the other tier one vendors? Uh it depends on the you mentioned three it depends on the manufacturer. Uh most of them have uh domestic content uh available for these systems.

Okay. Um do have one other one I think you mentioned in the in the draft proposal and it goes it's a length fairly lengthy paragraph that this system will provide a peaking capacity balancing service including reserve capacity frequency regulation and others. the best of my knowledge having reserve capacity and frequency regulation for lithium-ion batteries are incompatible in the same container through the same inverter. Is that still true? It was two years ago. [clears throat]

So I think the way that is meant to be worded is you're listing kind of the host of potential service arrangements that batteries can have. Like I mentioned earlier, we do not have a specific contractual offtake arrangement yet with CTE. So, how that will be structured down the line remains to be seen, but it can go a whole host of ways based on how these batteries are able to be laid out. [clears throat] Okay, that's probably should reward that of how you said that inside that draft proposal. Again, it was misleading because they are different designs. Is that correct for frequency regulation reserve capacity?

I would not be the civil engineer to speak to that. It's not a civil question but or electrical but um Chris do you have that? Yeah. So frequency regulations on the order of milliseconds. Reserve capacity is on the order of hours. You got a time problem. Yeah. So what [clears throat] what's being proposed is a 4hour system here. So thank you. Yeah. So it's not frequent. Might want to reward that paragraph. Yeah. Happy to. It would be misleading to the people who are going to read this and judge it. Mhm.

And one more question I think is what then I could be I think I can be quiet for a little while. Um [clears throat] or maybe two. The distance from the EMS generation source which you talked about inside of your draft proposal. Uh we now know how far it is to the to the residents. We know how far it is to the uh local businesses. Does that EMF [clears throat] out? Does that EMF the electromagnetic force radiation basically effect affect cell service, satellite service, internet service through the cables which may or may not be properly shielded?

Yep. So the EMF levels at a battery site are akin to that of what you would have within your household. So there is no sort of higher level. All right. Mhm. Someone drops off with distance two if I remember correctly or it should. Yes. Go ahead. Be a stupid question, but so this is a 10 acre parcel of batteries as opposed to like a 2acre with a house on it. So that but that it's still the same. Correct.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to ask one more question about your community engagement period because this slide scares me too. Um, your next upcoming event is in January. Your community engagement period ends in like nine or 10 days. Um, would your company mind giving a written agreement that you're going to extend your community engagement period from 60 days from today? So I will I'll start my response to that question just with a caveat. We are we are willing to come and engage sooner than that. Um if you would like an open house within the month of December that is totally fine but our engagement will continue on throughout the development process. It it's when I said that earlier while there might be like a state level window that window does not limit our ability to continue to engage with the local community. We continue to do that far after that sort of state standard.

But happy to work with all of you on on how we structure this and schedule this going forward. Thank you.

Okay. All right. We open up the public now. I don't know how many you want to speak. You can have a seat. You're not going to answer the questions right now, but you're going to take notes and answer them in a couple minutes. Understood. So, I go by who I whose hand I see first, guys. And that's not the best, but it's best I can do. So, anybody want to comment? Four or against? Gentleman in the back with the Yankees hat. Oh, no. You get to come on up. Come on. Sorry. You get to introduce yourself, too. Sorry. At night, huh? Is it going to be lit up at night? Okay. Okay. We'll get that answer for you. Okay.

First name that I'm sorry that light from the site. I'm sorry. Light. Is it going to be lit up 247? Okay. No, no, no. We'll answer in a moment. Okay, guys. I don't want this to become a debate. Ask the questions. We'll get them answered. Been doing this a while, and I can see the debates coming in our heartbeat. Okay. Ma'am, I'm sorry, sir. There's a lady right behind you in the red jacket. No, no. Nope. Her. You stood up. Raise your hand. Yeah, you come on up.

Thank you. less directed at Flat Iron, but at you guys. This is a very I'm This is a very sophisticated type of project with lots of hidden impacts to our community that are both positive and negative. I actually highly recommend that we get our own independent evaluation done for those impacts before we make any decisions for we pay for that and we do it properly with professional impact input. That's my

understood. But I want to make it very clear. We have had theseformational meetings across the years for things that are beyond the control of this zoning commission. They include cell towers we have no input on other than a community saying I don't think so. We can write a letter. Any solar project over a megawatt we have no control. Zero. Anything under a megawatt we can. That comes through us. This type of project goes through the sighting council and Pura. We will write a letter after this expressing our concerns or [clears throat] our positives and negatives, however this comes out tonight because I'm not going to prejudge that. But on a personal note, I agree with you. Thank you so much. Just FYI,

there's a gentleman in the back raise several times with a red shirt. Yeah, that'd be you over here. Uh just for the record, a few things that are clear tonight is only

you bet you can be heard this way. Thank you. Yeah, I was just going to say for the record, you know, few things came out very clearly tonight. What came out very clearly is we're going to speak up here. I don't think you have one actively running plant right now. You don't really have a lot of experience. you don't have many answers. Um, if we do have an ability to push, I say we push as hard as we can. It's an untested technology. Just look at Warwick, New York, where they had a fire with these highly rated, terrible batteries. Um, I'm sure you wouldn't want it in your towns, so I really don't want it in mine. That's it. Thank you. Thank you.

I saw other hands. So, ma'am, right there, the brown. Yes. Come on up. You can use the microphone too.

Hello, my name is Glenda Reining. Last name spelled R Y N I N G. And I had two questions. um one that they've said that they're aware of the aquifer and the wetlands there, but I've done some research on lithium batteries and it said if the if the flood went too high and the batteries did get soaked, it would cause something called thermal runaway, which would cause a fire that would be very difficult to put out. So, I want to know if they were aware that that area floods often. And then my second question is since we have an all volunteer fire department and they're intending to stay that way, would this company be willing to provide additional fire resources? Thank you. We'll get that answer for you.

Other questions and comments? Come on, ma'am. In the front row, please.

Hi, my name is Cheryl Hill. Um, this project is slated to be a mile from my home. And um, I just want to point out something, um, that there seem to be a lot of misleading things, the use of semantics. Um, I feel some of these things are very manipulative. They're condescending. Um, so we started this meeting with this kind of we're coming into comm your community and we want to be buddies. That's not how it's feeling. Just so you know from our point of view, it's not how it's feeling. You're coming into our town. I don't know now if it's 10 acres or 100 acres because I keep hearing different things. We're at a preliminary stage, but we have 10 days left and you've actually started this project in 2022, but it's preliminary. There's just a number of discrepancies and it's perfectly safe, but there's a potential that I'm going to have to shelter in place with my children. Okay. I think we need to and I don't even know if we have the ability to say no. I mean, we can say no, but does it mean anything? Is that something that we have any influence here or like you said, does that go to sighting and how much influence do we have here?

We have taken our concerns to sighting council before and had hearings in front of them before on a 20 megawatt solar project that was never built. Okay. So, we do have some influence. Am I going to say it's huge? No. Right. But we have some, just not a lot.

Okay. The um environmental injustice that we seem to be solving here also doesn't seem consistent with clear-cutting mature trees. Um and you know, tapping into the electric that we pay for. And by the way, we don't necessarily get any of that electric. The distribution is determined by ISO New England. So, we don't necessarily get any of this great technology or resources. It seems to me there's a lot of taking. Okay. Including potentially our public water aquifer. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Robert Hill. Um, I'm an environmental health and safety officer in the corporation in Danberry. Uh, I've been doing this for quite a few years. Um, obviously there's going to be other questions about areas that I'm not too expert in, but one thing I was concerned about, and you really brought a good point about the decimals, what this is going to admit out, and you're I'm hearing different numbers or enough like that, and then we don't have an experience in the matter how much it's going to admit, but anybody ever factor in you got a ridge off to the west, you got a ridge off to the east, you got a plateau to the north, which is where the uh thing there, and that all that sound is gonna bounce off those ridges. And I don't think anybody really factored that in. And I'm an expert. [laughter] I know about hearing enough. And I talk about with this with my guys all the time. This is going to bounce off those ridge. You got uh housing off to the east and to the north. And I don't even know what it's going to be like for them on a daily what it's going to be the time weighted average for these uh the the emissions of this these decimals. You like you said, nobody knows what it is. And that's got to be factored in also. Thank you. Thank you sir. [clears throat] Howdy. I I moved from Texas. That's where the howdy comes from. Um in we moved into a new house in February here. Loved the place. enjoy it very much. What's spooky in this conversation is that I live on um uh Tall Oak Drive, which is closer than a mile from where this construction is going

on. And and I've of course have heard the construction noises for some time and hooray for them. But the the noise factor that they were that these machines generate is something that it had had not occurred to me. I don't know what that means in in it in and of itself. I was they said, but I don't know how far that goes in less than a mile. And that's a spooky thing day and night. Um, all we hear right now are birds and animals and we enjoy that. The second thing that I would ask is that I had some experience concerning Jernobyl and which was an atom explosion that has nothing to do with this but it made me spooky to the fact that I don't know what a generator unit of electricity as this is going to be as powerful at this is going to be and I don't have the vocabulary to choose the words is does that send out some kind of vibration that affects lives? Uh and and and you know what does that impact to the area because it's it's a big unit and and uh there in my area there are 21 houses right there and they will absolutely be impacted and I'm just interested Thank you, sir.

For the record. Fair enough. Let's see. Someone said that's a good question. Um [laughter] um Andrew Elum and the house isn't in my name. I'm I'm 93. It's in my daughter and her husband's name. Um and but um anyway, that's it. It it's whole. H O L E is the name of the of my daughter and her husband. Thank you. Thank you, sir,

gentlemen. My name is Tom Capsak. I am concerned by what we've been listening to this evening. There are a number of assertions that are being made that are not backed up by anything close to being data. The assertion is that there is a need for this facility. There has been no documentation confirming the need. There has been an assertion that multiple sites have been evaluated. There has been no documentation proving that any sites other than the one on Aspetch Ridge has been reviewed. The obvious alternative site that would seem to be self-evident is the Eversource substation on Long Mountain Road, which is 115 acres of largely undeveloped property, very remote, isolated from residential development in any meaningful way. Unlike the current proposed site which is in the middle of a residential development that has been in place for a number of years. The other concern is that this proposal is I'm going to say loosely formulated. There is nothing close to the information that would be normally provided to any of the land use commissions for review of a project of this magnitude. I understand the jurisdictional issue and I respect that. But we are being asked to evaluate a

proposal that is basically it's so ambiguous as to really not justify a considered response. And until we see enough information to justify and enable a considered response, my sense is the town has an obligation to say, "Thank you very much. We'll see you when you get your act together. And I'm sorry to be crude, but this proposal is insulting to the community. [applause]

Okay, I see a hand in the back. I can't trying to figure out who it's attached to. [clears throat] My name is Michael Lori. Um there's no need to repeat any of the comments that came before it, but I do want to reiterate every one of those comments is a concern for myself. Uh one of the comments I want to raise is a uh a grave concern for our first responders. Uh I don't think they're going to come out and say that they're concerned for themselves. It's sort of not in their nature. It's quite the opposite. Um but uh as a former first responder in another community where I lived before I moved here um um the plan is in the event of a fire to observe and to stay back. That that's what was expressed to the board. Um but what happens when when when any fire breaks out or particular maybe one of these battery fires is um uh spread to the vegetation that's next to it and possible fire that you know erupts around it. And you're not going to have observation in that situation. You're going to have firefighters are going to come out to that property. They're going to want to fight that fire. Um, oftentimes when you're fighting a brush fire or anything outside, you take off your your SCBA, which is your your face mask, your regulator, and you're going to breathe in uh the fumes that are coming from that fire. Um in New York, RAB is a volunteer firefighter. Um before moving here, we the state adopted legislation regarding um requiring all the fire departments to buy a policy of insurance due to cancer that uh volunteers have been suffering from um which has been shown um to have each of these volunteers have a significant risk of developing cancer. um to the extent where the the state did in fact make us buy insurance to ensure

those firefighters. Uh so I want the board to to think about that that there's a a very significant risk in in these events when those types of chemicals are in the air. Um while you know the advice is to to stay back and observe it's probably not realistic. There will be some need for response. Um and also dealing with with um um decontamination of our firefighters gear and equipment after an event. Um I'm not sure what our decontamination capabilities are in the new Milford Fire Department. Um but there are very specific needs for dealing with that. And uh I don't know what what you know I think the approximate cost of a set of bunker gear right now is about $5,000. It it could vary. Um but you could be looking at at you know a pretty significant um drain on resources when it comes to um dealing with decontamination and if you have to get rid of numerous sets of gear um that's something that's a town cost that we get a budget from the fire department it's submitted to the town we pay that all as a community and I ask that you guys think about that and raise it as concern. Yes, ma'am.

Hi, Kathy Rahog. Re a A. Um, so a couple of times at the beginning of the presentation, you said that lithium batteries are going to be used at this time. Going forward, is there a chance that they're going to change from lithium batteries to something else? Something that could be more harmful to the area? I'm concerned about that. Also, you did say there were other areas in Connecticut that you looked at. Why did you settle on New Milford? Um, there are plenty of areas, including your hometown of Wilton that is on uh the same type of source line with Eversource that we have. Why did you pick New Milford? And lastly, in Auxbridge, what kind of a neighborhood is the facility being built in? Is it a residential area or is it just completely in the middle of nowhere? Because there's a lot of empty space in Axbridge. So those are my questions to the to the people.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am. [snorts]

Hillary Ram 154 Gernzy Lane. Um in reading the report, I was just troubled to read that on December 6, 2022, Flat Iron attended a department services team meeting. I would love to know who was on that team. And I'm just troubled that like everybody has said that we're just learning about this now because um apparently we don't have many you know we don't even know what it takes to beat something like this because it goes to the sighting council. My my main question here is I support everything that's been said, but fundamentally I'd like to know the process very clearly so that the public can get involved and if people don't want this to happen that they know exactly the the steps that are going to happen so that let's lay it out really clearly on such and such date it's going to this committee and then they're going to render a hearing on this date and then I mean very clearly laid out on our town website so that if people want to take action and fight this thing that we can we know how to do that. So just the process. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes. The lady in the back I saw you but she was first.

Hi. Um my name is Annette Morasco. Uh 122 Aspatuck Ridge Road. My sister and I are co-owners of the house my father built 67 years ago. Um and he just died in on February uh February 18. Um I have a couple of questions. Uh one question is um how are what permits are required to do this and what have what are the what's the status status of each of those um permits. I agree with everything that was said here. I'd just like to know who signs off on these things and again why are why are we just finding out about it. Um my other comment is um something was mentioned about the flood plane and the fact that um the the ground will be the the site will be raised I believe three feet and I grew up on this road. Um, I fished the entire West Aspuck River and caught frogs and played and hiked and all of that and I've seen plenty of floods down there and I don't think three feet is even close to being adequate to address Oh, hi Charles. Um, to address what kind of catastrophe this could be. Um, anybody here can go on their phone and Google the downside of battery storage in residential neighborhoods and see a list as long as your arm about what the potential dangers of this are. And if this were to go into the um the wetlands into the West aspatuck River and into the Husatonic, this could affect people all the way down the Husatonic into Long Island Sound. Doesn't seem necessary.

Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. The front,

I'm Mike Kramer. Uh, I just wanted to second your point about the um, uh, the fact that uh, getting a special permit from an R40 zone to for an industrial site like this seems to me that the risks with this go up uh, much more than compared to some kind of a problem at a a residential site. and I live about a quarter mile away from the site and uh I have the same concerns that have been voiced about do I shelter in place, am I evacuating, what am I doing? I think if there was a housing development there, I I wouldn't have any of those concerns. So, I'd like to see a lot more information about the, you know, the plume studies or whatever that was inadequate in the documentation that I saw online.

Thank you. Other questions, sir? [clears throat]

Uh, Adrien Dwin, 145 Espatug Ridge Road. Um, my questions and concerns are numerous enough that I could stand here all evening. Um, although many of you have echoed the thoughts that I have had. Um, I wanted to ask about the financial relationship and nature between um, Flat Iron Energy and Hol Street Energy so that for full transparency the community can understand uh, what the backers of this organization are and what the financial relationships look like. Um, additionally, uh, it's concerning to me that there is a proposed decommissioning plan for somewhere in the two decade to three decade range down the line. Um, my understanding is that this technology is relatively new. So that any decommissioning plan is probably one that has not been tested with any sort of reliability uh and may leave the town of New Milford or my children presumably holding the bag for a decommissioning that was poorly planned 30 years years in the past. Um that's all I got.

Thank you.

Ma'am in the back. Sorry. Uh, my name is Tim Harkin and um I'll say this doesn't affect me. I'm on the other side of the town. But should this go forward, the people that live near this are going to see their property values go down. If you were next to an undeveloped parsel and all of a sudden there's 115 kilowatt battery storage facility there, your property value is going to go down. Will the people affected by that get any recompense from anybody? because most people's entire not entire but most of their wealth is in their home. Thank you. [applause] Hi there. I'm really Helen Lilis, but everybody calls me Lenny Lilis. So, um, and I live on Aspatuck Ridge Road. Um, there is an aquifer in our area. Um, when I was younger, until I was about 30, we had a handd for our house. Our house is seven built in 1779. So, um I know a lot about it. Um I also was 9 years old in the 55 flood. And I can remember walking down to near Wells Road and looking at all the water and it was very traumatic for me. That's why I remember the bridge past my house was also washed out on Aspatuk Road just past Sand Road. Um, I wanted you to know that also. So, it does it it does flood very much and the 55 flooded flooded into our backyard.

Um, I also want to um, excuse me, I lost my place. Um the um the west aspatuck river runs through this fetong valley and it is the spawning area for different types of trout and other fish and animals come there and drink. Um we have 250 lb bears. Um we had an aggressive one this year that we even spoke to the state biologist that deals with bears. Um, it even attacked the Eversource people that were doing work for you. Um, we happened to talk to one of them, so it it was aggressive to them, too. Um, another thing I want to bring up so people know about it. You all know we have a large man-made lake in New Milford. It makes us a very special place. it um it is pumped up out of the Husatonic River and it has formed that lake and we do enjoy it very much. Um it is held at the top to hold the lake water in is an earthn dam just so you know it's just an earthn dam and it has leaked at times. Um, according to First Light Power Resources in the Danbury paper, um, on December 2nd, the elevation of Candidwood Lake was 429.10. I don't exactly know what the figure means, but I'm assuming it's height, but I don't know that. So if during a flood or any high weather or a leak in that

dam, we're in a whole different position than any other place. Um the water coming down out of Kennowood Lake down through to the Husatonic River and then out into the valley where I live. It's like a tsunami. and it's going to hit the stuff like you wouldn't believe. The other thing is the Richmond farm is a property within the transmission lines and I believe that this project should not be allowed here through the sighting council or whatever has to be talked to to tell them of our situation and what our town has with the Candlewood Lake to think about us. And I have that paper here if anybody wants it with that elevation. Thank you very much and thank you for having this meeting so that we could come and talk about it and express our opinions to the sighting council also. Thank you.

Thank you.

Other questions? Sir, come on up. Uh Shane Newman, uh 14 Aspatuck Ridge Road. I just wanted to piggyback on what Lenny said. I think one thing that we should consider is uh a 100red-year flood plane, climatologists are predicting that that is probably something that may not be enough in the future because every time we build a new home, put up a new parking lot, there's more water running off into our rivers. Uh there's more extreme weather. Um, so I think flood well I don't think uh the prediction is that flooding is going to be a more common thing and bigger floods are going to be a problem for us in the United States and the world in general. So that's something to consider as well that it's most likely that area will flood in the future and what the consequences of that might be might not be good.

Thank you. Other questions, comments, sir. So, I think the proposal is to um go an R40 zone and they want to get a special permit for that. Is that correct? No, sir. They want to change the whole zoning in the area. No, sir. We have no control over that. Okay. The siding council does. We do not. They override local zoning. So, they can tell you that R40 zone you're putting it in. Yes, sir.

Okay. So, um I know a lot about batteries, quite a bit about those. And I wonder if they're proposing changing the batteries, mention the solid state batteries, which are very clean and good batteries, things like that. So that'd be something for them. Solid state batteries or van dux redux batteries, another style, that's a new technology. Very clean fire. You don't have to worry about it too much. Solid state especially and very efficient batteries. in a couple years which they proposed in 2027 and 28 that they were going to get the plant online and will they be converting to solid state batteries on this plant which are very safe batteries as far as environment goes and everything like that. Noise levels the same. That's the inverters making a noise level out of that which aren't too bad. So So basically you have no control over the hard 40 and the seating council say do whatever you want to do.

They can. They can. Okay. Thank you. You know, you know,

one more quick thing years ago, if anybody remembers, I know Chelse, you probably remember, they proposed a power plant. If anybody remembers that, probably 30 years ago, it was talked about. It would have gave a lot of revenue. I don't know what this is going to give to the town for revenue. Also something to look at. It was about a million dollars in a power plant years ago. I don't like to personally just go in an R40, a residential zone. Our forefathers created all these zones. I should make it publicly known. I am on the zoning board of appeals for the public just to know. I forgot to give that to the board first. But an R40 zone was created by forefathers for the fact of being a residential area. There's a lot of industrial areas where that power plant was proposed over there. It's close to the power lines. Okay. The high tension. So big expense right there. It's a great location though where that power plant for this battery storage which I think is not a bad concept at all. is very clean. I understand what they're doing. They're pulling the power out, storing it. When a grid needs it, they'll pull it back out and they'll sell it back to Northeast Utilities, CMP, whatever you want to call them at a different rate is usually how it works. So, I like it. I just don't like it in that location in the R40 location. And not realizing that you don't have the power to do something. I think there's some other avenues that can get over and I think they have other choices where they can put it in town. I'd love to see in town. I'd love to see revenue, but I don't want to see an R40 zone. It's just not proper to put it where our forefathers designed it. I'd love to see you do look at another location Milford. Love to have you in Milford with a revenue jobs and things like that. It's a very clean operation. I was involved with a power plant when it was proposed years ago. I actually went out to Arizona. They're building one. It's very good operation. It did get knocked down here. Okay. But I think this would be very good for the town in the proper location. I don't like it in the R40 zone. Thank you.

Other questions, comments, sir. Come on up.

Afternoon. Scott Griven. I'm a less than a quarter mile like Mike uh from the proposed site. Um I have a little bit of experience with lithium batteries and I don't find them very safe. They are extremely volatile. And there's a reason why they have a standoff because they are uncontrollable. When they burn, they burn and they spew not only lithium but metal fragments in various directions. And it's very, very dangerous. You see lithium battery fires on aircraft, in people's pockets, in cars. They're uncontrollable. I have a concern about that fact over an aquifer which I am very close to. Um, additionally I haven't seen any documentation or data as to what the true benefit of this technology is for New Milford. They say it's going to benefit our distribution network. how you're tying into a major 115 KV line that's distributed across the state. Where's the benefit to the Milford?

I haven't seen it. Thank you. Thank you. Other comments or questions?

Oh, sorry. Didn't see you over there. Apologies. Come on. Good evening, Sharon Schustster. I live on Aspetuck Bridge Road. Uh, I remember those bumper stickers that said no panda had a panda with a line through it. I think that was something to do with electric. I'm not sure. Uh, I wondered the constru construction period. Will it have limited hours? Uh, you know, 7 am to dark or something. And also the lighting during construction and for the plant. Uh will it be downward lighting so as not to interfere with migratory bird paths that we have? Uh what is exactly emitted from these batteries into the air? Uh radiation into the ground. What? I don't know. Are there particulates? Are there I I don't know. I don't know anything about it. Um, the West aspatuck is the cleanest river in Connecticut. That's something to really protect, as many have said before. What is in it for the town? This project other than tax revenue, I suppose. Are there any local employment opportunities? Um, how will the connection to the power lines, how what will that look like? Are there more lines running up the road to the power lines? Uh, what is the tallest structure on this proposed site? We've talked about how far spread it is, but how high will it go? Um, and

in some places like this, like quaries for example, if the blast is too loud, there's a number you can call and complain. I'm not sure they do anything about it, but there's a number that community members can call, not just someone in authority. So, will there be someone to field concerns, complaints, questions from the community? That's it. Thank you. Other questions or comments, sir?

Right over here. My name is Ralph Williams. I live about three or four miles north of where this is going to take place. I live on meeting house terrace. Um when the train goes through by Aguay, I can hear the motor of the I can hear the train motor as well as the whistle from my house. So I'm really concerned about this noise that we've spoken about. Am I going to hear constant humming 24 hours a day to really disturb my peace of mind, my tranquility of owning my own home in the country or what? This is what this is a concern for me.

Thanks.

The gentleman on the right Mark Hower, local resident had two questions. Will it create any local new milford jobs? And the second question is there's been a significant number of documented thermal events, i.e. fires that have been pretty upsetting to the local environments where they've happened. Are you taking that into consideration with the technology that you've chosen, lithium ion phosphate? Uh, and have you considered any other uh technologies that There was another gentleman that had a really good question in regard to that as well. Um, any other technologies that may be a little bit safer. Thank you.

Other questions or comments,

Pete? Thank you. You want a microphone? So, a couple things for your guys notes if you could bring back to the board. First of all, thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the zoning commission and the public at large. Uh, as you'd stated before, this is a project that would have to go before the sighting council and then uh uh to PURA. Uh I did have a question concerning your decommissioning plan that was brought forth uh in your plan. You talked about credits that are expected during the decommissioning that's stated in your draft decommissioning plan. LFP batteries currently do not seem to have a resale value. So, if you could come back and give us uh uh your thoughts on how that uh affects your decommissioning plan, especially when it comes to a cost analysis. Another one too is there are box turtles that are on uh this particular area. What plans do you have to ensure that those box turtles uh not only are sustained but thrive on that property? Uh, another one too is if we do have a thermal event uh on this property, what would be the proposed uh blast site area and what material how far would they go and would there be a plan or a process in place especially for those neighbors that are abudding or are in that uh uh area. As far as the costs that were mentioned, lowering cost to consumers, if you could uh uh bring back uh more of a quantitative analysis on that uh as battery costs are higher uh as you'll be selling to the grid at a higher rate than would be current market rate. So how would that in some respect lower the costs to not only consumers in the Milford but uh to the ISO?

Yes, sir. Other questions or comments? Okay, Flat Iron, you're up. Oh, didn't see a hand. So no, I'm I'm with Flat Iron. I'm Aaron Baker, vice president of development with Flat Iron. Could we take like three to five minutes to just run through the questions that we heard and who's best to respond? Thank you. We'll reconvene at um 9:00. 9:00. Give you eight minutes. I'm feeling generous tonight.

It's a big thing with this One second. All right, you're up.

Thank you guys for your patience while we've worked out the questions and developed a the best we could do to to address as as many of the questions as we could in a short amount of time. Um, again, I'm Steve Coas, licensed professional engineer in the state of Connecticut with the firm of VHB. Um, I'm going to address the questions that were coming up about the flood impacts. We are working with the FEMA regulations. Our project team, um, as if this was a town project, um, is not in in the business of developing flood policy. We will follow the proper uh recommendations of FEMA um and the the in place FEMA mapping to uh work and ensure that the technology is above the FEMA designated flood planes and outside of any the floodways. Um can't do much more than that. That would be standard to any project that was developed in the state of Connecticut. um to give some clarity on the permitting route of this project that was asked about a couple times. Um as well as a little bit of the timing, uh we as as I think Charlie mentioned, we're looking to make application to the sighting council in early 2026. That is going to be a um a docket application to the sighting council once we've satisfactorily completed the municipal consultation, which will remain ongoing. um that process carries a 180day review period by the council. They can voluntarily extend it, but off off the top, you can expect that that's about a six-month process. So, if we go to the sighting council in early 2026, that would probably put the required public hearing for the project uh in the summer of 2026. Um the other permit that we would need to construct this project would be a CTDep stormwater construction general permit for impacting more than one acre

of land. Uh we've already initiated conversations with CTE uh both the storm water program, the wildlife program um aquifer protection area management uh for the development of best management practices and safety procedures when working in an aquifer protection area. Um, and then one of the last things we would probably need to acquire to construct this project would be town of New Milford building and electrical permits once we have all our land use permits through the state. Um, question right there. Do you have to provide an environmental impact statement to have to do environmental impact study?

Not necessarily. O only what we would have to do as part of the construction general permit process. So that's that would technically be the the NIPES permit. I I think you're kind of referencing. Um but that would all be as part of our storm water general permit unless there's species wildlife species that are in the area that are considered at at risk. Yes.

So environmental impact statement. So to be clear, when we go for that uh CTD Deep construction stormwater general permit, we are not even legally allowed to file it until we have a final determination from CTDeep wildlife division saying that we have satisfactorily addressed um either the conservation or mitigation for any known RTE species in the area. Okay.

Um I'll speak quickly to the questions about the noise that came up. Um, I did want to just make one point of clarification. I think Charlie did a great job in answering as many of the questions as he could. Rapid fire. Um, the the CTE noise guidance standards are to our property line. So, it's a little bit more conservative than what Charlie was suggesting. Um, that I think we're looking at right now 40 to 50 dB at the property line. As you've noted, it will be dissipated by distance. it will be lower at the residences that are an extra 60 to 70 ft away from our property line. Um [clears throat] there and and just to further the conversation about noise, there are ongoing conversations by the project team with Tesla um about limiting the fan duty cycles um that will allow for for um proper storage of energy in the project while mitigating the noise impacts. Um and and just on that note, this is not a traditional project that that can be completed and and given to the town. Um and just with all all the details buttoned up, there are many many avenues that this project is going through. The Flat Iron team is working through Pura. They're talking to Tesla about the ongoing um technology. They're working with Eversource for the interconnection and the switchy shyard design. We're here talking to the town and the residents. We have ongoing conversations with CTE on the storm water and the wildlife stuff. And then we'll also have detailed conversations with the Connecticut Sighting Council. So, um this this process uh will be iterative for at least the next year. Um and certainly up to the point that it goes to construction. If or when this project is approved at sighting council, we'll have a requirement for a development management plan which will require us to

go back to the sighting council with full construction documents and addressing all of their conditions of approval at which case the town can become a party in that as well. Uh but the setting council will have a full review of our [clears throat] entire final package of materials and how we've addressed any of the conditions of our approval. So there is that secondary review process as well. um to account for updates in technology or advancements in the project. question on that and I apologize for interrupting um but the zoning commission does reserve that right um will there be a third party peer review of the project um [clears throat] council

I can address it um in regards to um a third party we are happy to add that into the HCA and meet those accommodations for the town upon providing funding and you guys can select that third party for you can you make sure you provide that back in your answers to our questions so I understand what you wrote please what you just said in writing thank you yeah to add some color there's no requirement for third party review in the process that we're going through so if flat iron is willing to offer it that's who who reviews it for the sighting council uh the sighting council itself they don't hire well okay that's

the sighting council the sighting council has staff engineers um that are um hired engineers on staff, paid a salary to review the projects um and digest the the details to the actual council members themselves. Okay. So any project that you go to sighting council will be reviewed by a staff engineer at the setting council, not only the council itself.

Understood. um to [clears throat] speak on the construction questions. Um right now we are anticipating uh construction between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5:00 pm which would fall under any normal construction project in the state. And to be clear um by CTE noise guidance standards, construction noise is exempt from any decibel ranges. Um Monday through Friday,

Monday through Friday and and the way we usually do it for energy projects is we will request from the sighting council if we need or want to do weekend work. So they'll have to grant that blessing to us, but we're not we're not anticipating weekend work, but we would reserve the right to request it of the site council. Um the last piece that I'll do before passing the mic is just to speak about the aqua protection area. Um, as I think I noted here and here, we have been having conversations with CTDep's opera protection area management program going back to last year. Um, we're working with them to implement the best management practices and we will also be determining if this is a regulated activity um within their jurisdiction [clears throat] or not. Um, in any event, uh, what we do know is that the project has been designed to meet the water quality standards that any, uh, state project would need to meet in terms of treatment prior to discharge from the site and that Tesla, uh, is committed to having their own secondary containment within the boxes uh, to contain any leakage of materials during [clears throat] emergency or normal operation as Well, so uh those are the considerations that are that are taken in uh on the aquifer protection side outside of what we're we're working with the agency itself.

Thank you.

All right. Uh I'm going to try to answer some of these um safety questions that come up. Uh if I didn't answer your question, uh we do have a number of um safety pamphlets um available from different sources as well as an executive summary from some recent uh thirdparty reviews uh analyzing uh failure events um that have had public uhly released um data. So um one thing um again we we have already started discussions with the the fire department um as part of our host community agreement. Um it will include any um uh allowance for any equipment they feel u they need for the department. Uh it will include uh we can include anything related to an incident that does happen. reimbursing them for any new equipment or decontaminated equipment. Um if they need to have reimbursement for the labor or overtime for managing the incidents that it can all be captured as well. Uh as we already mentioned uh we're happy um to have a third party reviewer uh review our safety documentation. That's something that was done at our uh Taft uh facility in Oxbridge uh Mass. uh thirdparty reviewer did uh provide comments on it uh and we addressed all of those concerns. Um regarding um the the chemistry, the battery chemistry uh itself, um the LFP chemistry we're proposing for this site um is the most mature um battery chemistry on the market today. uh it represents 80% of all new energy storage uh deployments um that are out there. Um the primary benefit um is you know really it's transition from um an NMC chemistry which has a very say violent

reaction during thermal runaway. Um these uh LFP batteries do not contain any uh heavy metals. Um they have a long life and they hire higher resistance to thermal abuse. Um and they still provide an adequate energy density to meet our uh POI requirements for our interconnection and limiting the minimum of units on site. Um somebody mentioned um I think emissions uh from these systems. So um these battery energy storage enclosures are self-contained. Um they don't require any say external water source. They don't emitt uh any uh nasty stuff during normal operation. Um uh they do uh I think there was a comment on do they explode. Um so they're not a fuel tank. Uh they don't explode. Uh all of these systems are mandated to have explosion protection systems um as part of their UL listing. Uh and those systems have to be tested as well. So um they are provided with these uh systems to safely vent any uh safe flammable gas that may accumulate inside of the enclosure. Um they also are part of the ongoing uh maintenance and safety testing of the system on an annual basis. Um I do have an executive report um released by the American Clean Power Association as well as there's an EPRI report as well. Um recent testing and studies um from battery energy storage um fires that happened in New York and California uh found no evidence of contaminants that posed public health [snorts] uh concerns or further remediation uh on sites um that is available that was just released uh within the last couple months.

Would you provide those to this commission so that we can post them on our website? Yes, of course. Thank you. Yeah. Um, yeah, that is all I had on on my side. Um, but again, if uh I did not address any uh questions regarding the safety of the system, please find me uh after this meeting. Happy to give you my contact information uh as well as uh the leaflets we have on [snorts] site.

Thank you. Um, I'll be addressing the host community agreement, which is something we hope to sign with the community. What can be captured in that includes all of the uh fire safety uh requirements and needs that the town might have. Additionally, can include community needs such as creating funds such as um also including any funds to do third-party um recommendations or analysis and also whatever might be important to the community. We can capture a lot of that in the host community agreement. And I think another question I'd like to address is why is the town only hearing about this now? We've been going through the proper procedures and have and are very much wanting to engage with the community on a very regular basis. So we are hoping to [clears throat] have our um open house on a regular basis as needed, meet with individuals as they would like us to and we have our join our contact list but also you have my email direct line to me to Chris and Charlie and we have a treeard atflatiron.energy. We are also going to be creating a website for the project that will include FAQs, any information updates. It'll also be the source uh source for when the project if it does move forward that we would give construction updates as well. Um I think also other things we can capture in the host community agreement is a community engagement plan for the project especially during construction into operations ways in which we can engage. So, I just want the community to know that um we hear you and we're here to like honestly be a partner with you. I can recognize how sensitive this is for the community. So, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Um and I'll add one last thing is that we do hope to launch something called our flat iron energy giving program [clears throat] which would be a quarterly program which community could reach out about things they would like us to sponsor. um it would be rolling basis um and anywhere from about $500 to a thousand dollars or more if it seems

fit in term and also for major giving. So I just want to to share that this is a first of what we hope is going to be many many engagements and we appreciate and hear your concerns and just please don't hesitate to reach out to us and I'll pass it to Charlie.

Okay. So I'm going to try to answer some of the more like ad hoc miscellaneous questions that were asked throughout the process. So one of the first questions that was asked is will this project have additional lighting? We will have lights around the perimeter of the facility. We these will be national electric code compliant. Uh however this is a very low lighting and it will not generate any additional uh light pollution to any nearby residential abutters. There was also a question about the relationship between flat iron and uh whole street. So whole street is our private equity investor. So we we we do work actively with them. I'm happy to answer any additional questions on that relationship going forward. There was a question about local job creation uh with this project. As far as full-time jobs go, uh there will really only be like one to two operation operations and maintenance jobs that are created. However, during the time of construction for the facility, there will be a large number of temporary construction jobs that are created. There was a question about sort of like the structuring of the decommissioning security and how it may be structured around current assumptions and as time goes on these assumptions could become outdated. We would be willing to work with the town on sort of setting a structure on how we could revisit that decom plan uh both from a valuation perspective and a best practices perspective so that as new information becomes readily available that can be an iterative process and we can we can continue to revisit that on a set cadence. There was a there was a couple of

questions that were really kind of trying to capture the ask of like why battery energy storage. What what is really driving this besides for like the underlying fundamentals of how it's beneficial? Connecticut has mandated certain sort of overarching policy goals uh to that are kind of capture this sort of technology. So more broadly Connecticut has mandated that they be carbon neutral by 2040. And from a battery perspective, they have al there's also been a mandate for 1 gawatt of battery energy storage to be deployed by the year 2030. There was a question about our oxbridge project and how it may differ from this project. I will note it is fair similar in nature. uh it is also in like a res residentially zoned parcel uh with existing vegetative buffer. So um did want to just touch on that as well at the end here. [clears throat] I think that should capture across everybody else who has spoken the majority of those questions. If anything was not answered, I too have my contact information with me. I'm happy to give that out to anybody that would like to take it uh and be a resource going forward. A lot of people were asking what do we get out of this as residents? What do we get? Because I look at your list of what you have written down there. Uh, one example is blackouts and brownouts. Okay. Never experienced one in all my life up here. Okay. Unless you can stop trees from coming down, we always have power. Uh, as far as any tax or something, we're not going to see any of that. Not one resident is going to see that in their pocket. So what's in it for us?

So as Sada had touched on, there is sort of the ability to offer and work with you guys on what a host community agreement may look like. We we would like to customize that so that it is working for you in a way that is beneficial. Um, outside of that, there are the benefits that I did lay out in that initial slide. We do fervently believe are beneficial to the local community. Um, but yeah, happy to continue to speak to that host community agreement and provide further detail as to what that may look like. Sada is the expert, but more than happy to dive into that now if you if you would like to. Go ahead.

S, do you want to just provide sort of like an overview as to what that may encapsulate? Yeah. So um we have executed to date two host community agreements um in Massachusetts. What's in it for us as individuals?

As individuals, what you want to have reflected in that so we can host community engagement opportunities where we talk about what you guys want to see in it, what kind of funds we could put towards what type of equipment we could bring into the town. It's really going to be at what kind of dialogue and negotiations we get into together as a town with Flat Iron Energy. So we're we are very happy to engage in that and really it's going to be really being able to communicate together what is possible. There might be limitations but we're very very much willing and have executed host community agreements based on community needs. So it's I mean in it for you beyond you know the immediate one thing that is is real about the battery storage is that yes it goes to the larger state but energy flows like water. So the first community that will have resilience will be New Milford.

Well, like I said, in all my years of owning a home here, I've never had a brown out or a blackout unless a tree came down. So I don't anticipate that is very fair, but also our grid is changing and consumption is increasing. We are having a shift with our technology types as things get electrified. So while right now you haven't, we are still in a very changing energy space. So, I can't guarantee you what will or will not, but I'm happy to provide more evidence from the NISO um ISO New England and other projections as was requested um to ensure that you understand that this is a good infrastructure for this town. I would have to disagree. I think that's continue to have those conversations.

Yeah. Any Yes. How far does the electricity flow? How far would it go? I can't speak to that exactly, but I can bring you back like what is the normal way in which they see the flowing of that energy? Yeah. I mean, are we talking 300 miles? Like I mean, how far does it go? Is it going to go out of the state to another state?

I'm I I would have to research that for you, but it is limited and it's and it is meant to like as it goes, it supports the communities that are closer and closer to the infrastructure. Yes. And I think one thing that we didn't mention is that as there is new technologies online such as solar, wind um and traditional uh you know power plants and nuclear battery p uh battery storage creates the ability for stability with in those technologies because it becomes a holding space. So that's an important factor as well and we can't underestimate the actuality that our energy usage based on population and our shifting use of of electrification is going to continue to grow go up. And so that really is very important to understand that we will be living in a world where our rates continue to go up and having a town that has that stability of battery storage does help curb that volatility within your um within the energy that you have access to. what type of poles will be carrying this electricity and how far because nobody really said all right we're going from Aspuck Ridge but even on the picture it just ends

so I can pass that to I wouldn't know that on the techn so the question is about just like the gentile line configuration is it a mile is it a half mile is it 100 yards and what type of poles will be carrying this is it I don't know the name of them but is it the quad ones the You know, I'm sure it's not a wooden pole,

right? Understood. So, the length of that genti and like the actual configuration we are continuing to work with Eversource on it. It very much is also in their court as to how they would like to configure that. But roughly speaking, you're talking about like a 0.2 mile overhead line that will run on monopoles. So, a monopole is what it sounds like. It's like a sing singular pole. How many poles that will be is is still being worked out. Uh Eversource is currently in their like preliminary engineering phase for this effort. But you're talking about overhead line um monopole design same voltage class as what we're interconnecting into.

Is it your property? Correct. So the way as is shown presently on like the uh it's okay you can flip to it if you want the overhead but um it's within that 102 acre larger footprint. So therefore it's not outside of your property boundaries. You're going to the existing right away that runs through your property. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. actually if there is an issue with landscaping or anybody in town has an issue who do they reach out to

so prior to construction of the site while we we are an option I'm actually talking after construction when you're up and running because if you don't own the property who do we reach out to if there's an issue with the property yeah so the point I was going to make is prior to construction and then from there on out, we would trigger that option. So we would be the land owners from that point onwards. So flat iron. So basically you're in the process of purchasing the property is what you're saying. We Yeah, correct. We have an option. We have an option to purchase the property. Option or the or you're doing

that is like the that is the real estate uh governing document that we have with the property right now. We are purchasing the property. Okay. Okay.

All right. I think unless somebody has a burning question from the audience, it's getting late. Um, been here a while. I'd like to close this meeting. Would like to thank Flat Iron for being here, for taking the time to answer our questions and our concerns. Look forward. We will supply you. I know the mayor read from a list. I made a list of questions. I added a few tonight to that. We will send that to you in a formal response to this probably within the week. I don't know if it'll be next week. It certainly be before Christmas. We'll get that done. It'll be on our website as well. We'll look for your written responses to all the questions that we've provided. You gave a lot of verbals tonight. That'll also be posted on the zoning website here in town so that we keep track of this and the and the citizens of of New Milford and other places can find it very quickly. Okay. Once this process is over tonight [clears throat] and we got our questions answered, we will be submitting a letter on the outcome of this meeting um to the sighting council and to Pura. We'll also send it to clearly the mayor, the uh town council through through mayor, also send it to our state senators and state representatives from the town of New Milford so that they all have our concerns, our questions, your responses, and what our feelings came out of this meeting tonight. just to let you know what we're going to do out of this. All right. So, we're going to be open and transparent, too. I think we've been pretty good at that tonight. So, have you So, I'd like to thank you all for coming. With that, Joe,

I move to second the motion. All in favor? I meeting is a journ. Thank you all for coming. Everybody have a great holiday season. If you want to come up and ask a question, please. I'm sorry.