New Owners Submit Management Plan for Montague Road Battery Storage Facility
Compact battery storage container from Blue Wave Solar. Photo: Blue Wave Solar
Report on the Meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals, February 12, 2026
This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.
Present
Everald Henry (Chair), David Ahlfeld, David Sloviter, and Philip White. Absent: Craig Meadows
Staff: Jacinta Williams (Planner)
Lodestar Energy and its subsidiary, LSE Fornax LLC, applied to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) for acceptance of a new management and operation plan for its Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on land owned by W.D. Cowls at 451 Montague Road, due to a change in ownership. The project had previously received special permits from the ZBA in FY18, FY19, and FY26. The most recent special permit granted in August 2025 (FY 26) allowed the BESS to be located farther from the existing solar farm.
Sam Valone and Jeff Macel from Lodestar stated that Peoples Bank of Holyoke, which is financing the project, maintained that since the solar array and battery storage were not constructed at the same time, the financing requires the ownership of the existing solar farm to be different from the unbuilt BESS. To meet the requirement of a separate owner and to be eligible for tax credits, the property was transferred to a newly formed company, LSE Fornax II. The same individuals are principals of both the existing and new partnerships, and they stated there would be no change to the site plan.
The battery storage system will serve the energy produced on-site. The solar farm is now operational and connected to the Eversource grid on Montague Road, and the BESS is scheduled for construction this summer. The changes to the management plan will indicate clearly which entity is responsible for each part of the project.
ZBA Chair Everald Henry thought that Special Permits are not transferable. Other ZBA members were sympathetic to the applicants, calling the plan reasonable. All board members were reluctant to approve something that could be illegal. Therefore, the public meeting was extended to March 26 to allow staff time to seek an opinion from town counsel. This also gives the applicant enough time if a new special permit is required.