Bryan County Commissioners during a recent meeting voted to begin the process for a Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) for a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to be built near Colbert.
Commissioners Scott Goad, Tony Simmons and Brandon Carr voted to hire Floyd & Driver law firm of Norman to assist the county with legal requirements for the formation of a T.I.F.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a public tool that reallocates newly generated tax dollars for up to 25 years for supporting development or redevelopment in certain limited areas of a city, town, or county. In Oklahoma, the terms and conditions for using TIF are provided in the Local Development Act enacted by the state in 1992 and has been amended several times. Tax Increment Financing is used to help generate private development projects, through the funding by tax dollars, for public improvements and other eligible project costs.
Peregrine Energy Solutions is wanting to invest an estimated $275 million to construct the BESS on 40 acres of land.
According to an online presentation during the meeting, a BESS will draw energy from the power grid during times of low demand and discharge that energy back into the grid as needed during times of high demand. The project substation regulates energy output and connects to the local substation.
Dustin Ingram, project manager for Peregrine Energy solutions, said during a Zoom meeting with commissioners that the storage system will not produce sound or pollution and it will be remotely monitored 24/7 with no one on site. He said from a distance, the plant will look like a storage facility.
Ingram said it is planned for it to be in operation by 2027.
Stuart England of Floyd & Driver said there will be two public hearings about the TIF.
“The first public hearing is to simply present this TIF and the project plan to the public and let them just kind of soak it in and start thinking about it,” England said. “The second public hearing is where the public can actually ask questions and go into a little more of, well, what about this impact and what about that impact?
“At that second public hearing or thereafter, the TIF review committee will make its official recommendation of yes you should accept the project plan, we think its good or no we don’t and then as the board of county commissioners you would then either adopt the project plan or reject the project plan.”
Benton Blaine is the site locator for the project and he said that Peregrine Energy Solutions focuses on utility scale energy storage.
“Energy storage systems allow us to capture some of that energy when it’s being produced and put it back in the grid when it’s needed,” Blaine said. “The way the energy storage system works is when there is low demand and therefore low prices, you charge the battery.”