The Puget Sound Energy (PSE) Samish Island Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is a battery storage demonstration project located at the Samish Island Fire Station in Skagit County, Washington. Installed in 2023, the facility is located approximately 15 feet from our property. We were never directly notified before construction and were not informed of the facility's operational characteristics, potential sound impacts, or site-specific safety considerations.

After the facility became operational, its commercial-grade HVAC system generated repetitive mechanical noise that carried across much of our 3.72-acre property. Independent acoustical testing and studies commissioned during the course of the dispute documented noise exceedances at our property boundary, and a Skagit County code enforcement case remains open. Despite engineering reviews, multiple mitigation efforts, and ongoing discussions between Puget Sound Energy and Skagit County, the issue has remained unresolved.

What began as a noise concern led us to examine the project's permitting history, engineering studies, public records, emergency response plans, and environmental review. Through that process, we learned that battery energy storage systems involve considerations beyond those typically associated with conventional utility infrastructure, including fire suppression systems, hazardous gas detection, emergency shutdown procedures, evacuation planning, thermal runaway response, re-ignition monitoring, and firewater runoff management.

The facility's close proximity to our property also raised broader questions about project siting, environmental review, and emergency planning. We sought to understand how the location was selected, whether environmental review requirements were adequately addressed before construction, and how emergency planning considered neighboring properties and environmentally sensitive areas. We were particularly interested in how contaminated fire suppression water and runoff would be managed during a significant battery fire, given the presence of a Category III wetland and its associated buffer on our property.

As a result of these concerns, we postponed plans to build a home on the property we purchased in 2019 and experienced a substantial loss of the use and enjoyment of our land. 

This website documents the history of the Puget Sound Energy Samish Island Battery Energy Storage System, the impacts experienced by neighboring property owners, and the responses of both Puget Sound Energy and Skagit County. It also highlights lessons that may help improve the siting, permitting, environmental review, community notification, and residential compatibility of future battery energy storage system projects.