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Washington State wasn't on anyone's moratorium watchlist six months ago. This month we're tracking five active moratoriums in King County alone, all triggered by a single proposed project that hasn't even entered the ISO queue yet. It's the same contagion pattern we've watched unfold across 86 New York jurisdictions, now replicating 2,800 miles west. Meanwhile, Chinese-owned battery manufacturers are restructuring ownership of their US factories to navigate FEOC rules, and PJM just accepted 66.5 GW of storage into its reopened queue. June had a lot to unpack. |
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MARKET INTELLIGENCE:
PJM Queue Reopens with 66.5 GW of Storage. On April 29, PJM accepted 811 projects totaling 220 GW into its reopened interconnection queue, the first new applications since 2022. Of those, 349 are standalone storage projects totaling 66.5 GW, second only to natural gas (105.8 GW). PJM has committed to a 1-to-2-year study timeline under its FERC Order 2023-compliant cluster process, though its historical application-to-COD timeline has stretched beyond eight years.
East Hampton PFAS Lawsuit Names Battery OEM. Suffolk County Water Authority filed a federal lawsuit against East Hampton Energy Storage Center, LG Chem, and LG Energy Solutions, alleging that firefighting runoff from a May 2023 BESS fire contaminated public drinking water wells with PFAS compounds. Two Bridgehampton wells have been taken out of service. This is the first federal case to name a battery OEM as a defendant for post-fire environmental contamination, expanding liability exposure beyond the project operator.
Federal Court Restores 5% Safe Harbor Rule. A federal judge rejected Treasury's attempt to tighten construction-start rules for renewable energy tax credits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The ruling preserves the existing 5% safe harbor threshold for solar and wind projects racing the July 4, 2026 construction deadline. For BESS developers, the downstream effect is on EPC availability: if solar developers have more runway to begin construction, the scheduling pressure on co-located storage projects may shift. |
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ISO QUEUE UPDATES:
This month's pull identified 16 new queue positions totaling 2,325 MW (13 active, 2,000 MW). ERCOT accounted for 8 of 13 active filings and 1,306 MW.
The standout cluster: Pecan Springs Energy filed three positions in Wilson County, Texas totaling 627 MW, all queued April 22 with a June 2029 COD. Tempus Power Management filed a pair of 201 MW positions in Pecos County (COD June 2027), and Invenergy added a 157 MW filing in Mills County (COD December 2029). These April filings landed just weeks before ERCOT's July 10 batch process transition, which will materially change study timelines for everything filed afterward.
Other new positions: SPP added 394 MW across Oklahoma and Missouri, MISO added 300 MW in Louisiana and Wisconsin, and PJM showed two positions (285 MW combined) that have already been withdrawn.
None of the 16 new positions are in moratorium counties. The moratorium queue holds steady at 83 active positions totaling 14,237 MW blocked across moratorium jurisdictions |
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MORATORIUM UPDATES:
105 active moratoriums across 9 states. That headline number is down from 131 last month after a tracker-wide status review reclassified 26 moratoriums: 13 confirmed as lifted (jurisdictions that completed their review process or adopted permanent zoning frameworks), 7 moved to under review (past expiration, outcome unclear), and the remainder reclassified as expired. Illinois, Kansas, and Maryland no longer have active moratoriums.
Five new moratoriums were added this month, and the geographic story isn't New York for once.
Washington State: King County Cluster. Three new moratoriums in King County bring the county's total to five active restrictions (Snoqualmie, North Bend, Enumclaw, Black Diamond, Covington). Snoqualmie and North Bend classified their measures as bans, not temporary moratoriums. North Bend's action explicitly names Jupiter Energy's proposed siting in unincorporated King County as the trigger, and the city authorized its mayor to formally object to the Washington UTC. No BESS projects have entered the ISO queue in any of these jurisdictions. This is entirely preemptive: communities blocking development before a single application is filed. Washington is now the second-largest moratorium state by active count (6 total), up from zero active moratoriums just months ago.
New York: 86 active, but the resolution signal is real. Two new moratoriums were added (Mayville in Chautauqua County, Marcellus in Onondaga County), but 13 were confirmed lifted statewide. Several of those lifted jurisdictions have active queue positions: Orange County (Terra-Gen, RWE, Aypa Power with a combined 700 MW), Ulster County (Terra-Gen, Key Capture Energy, Origis, BayWa with 600 MW), and Niagara County (RWE, Origis, MN8 with 510 MW). Those developers now have a clearer path in counties that were previously blocked. Meanwhile, 58 active NY moratoriums expire through the rest of 2026, each resolving independently with no state preemption backstop..
Tracker Download
The full moratorium tracker is updated: 105 active moratoriums across 9 states. Download it Here. |
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OEM & FEOC WATCH:
AESC Sells Smyrna Factory to Fixx Energy. Envision/AESC sold a controlling stake in its Smyrna, Tennessee battery cell plant to Fixx Energy, a new US company, effective April 1. AESC retains a minority technology-partner role. Fluence immediately signed a multi-year cell supply agreement with Fixx Energy. This is the first major example of a Chinese-owned US factory restructuring ownership specifically to navigate FEOC restrictions. The open question: whether AESC's continued licensing and JV relationship constitutes sufficient "control" under the 25% ownership threshold to maintain FEOC designation on cells produced at the plant.
Fluence Posts Record $5.6B Backlog. Fluence reported Q2 FY2026 revenue of $464.9M (up 7.7% YoY) and $2.0B in year-to-date order intake, double the prior year. The company signed master supply agreements with two unnamed hyperscale data center customers. For developers evaluating integration partners, Fluence's capacity allocation is increasingly committed to hyperscaler contracts, which may constrain availability for smaller utility-scale projects.
Gotion/Richardson Partnership Brings US-Assembled BESS with FEOC Ambiguity. Richardson Electronics announced a partnership with Gotion Inc. (US subsidiary of Chinese-HQ Gotion High-Tech, Volkswagen as largest shareholder) to deliver US-manufactured BESS: Gotion cells from Manteno, Illinois, Richardson integration from La Fox, Illinois. Products include a 5 MWh utility-scale system. This is the second FEOC restructuring pattern this month: Chinese-parent cell manufacturer pairing with a US integrator to create a domestic product line. The FEOC question is whether Chinese parent ownership of the cell facility renders those cells non-compliant regardless of final assembly location.
FEOC classifications reflect Carina Energy's assessment based on publicly available information as of June 2026. Developers should conduct independent due diligence and consult tax counsel before making investment or procurement decisions based on FEOC status.
Safety note: No new confirmed large-scale BESS fire, thermal runaway event, or OEM recall was reported during the May 2026 scan period. |
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING:
ERCOT Batch Process Transition (July 10). ERCOT's current large load interconnection process ends July 10, replaced by a batch-based system requiring a Queue Sufficiency Assessment 5 to 8 months before energization. With 438 GW of large load requests (approximately 87% data centers), this restructures queue dynamics for every co-located BESS project in Texas. The April ERCOT filings in this month's queue data came in just under the wire.
Illinois IPA Storage Procurement (August 26). The IPA's first standalone storage procurement targets 1,038 MW split across MISO (450 MW) and PJM ComEd (588 MW). Results will set the first price benchmark for 20-year indexed storage credit contracts in the Midwest. If the procurement clears, it establishes a replicable state model that Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio are watching.
New York Moratorium Resolution Window (H2 2026). Thirteen New York moratoriums were confirmed lifted this month, several in counties with major developer queue positions. But 58 more active moratoriums expire through year-end, each resolving independently without state preemption. The pattern so far is mixed: some jurisdictions adopt permanent frameworks that allow development under strict conditions, others let moratoriums lapse with no replacement, and the outcome in each case requires individual verification. |
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OFF-GAS DETECTION: THE SHIFT FROM CONTAINMENT TO PREVENTION
Off-gas detection is quietly becoming a baseline expectation in BESS project design. Driven by NFPA 855 (2026), FM Global guidance, and tightening insurer requirements, the industry is converging on a simple principle: thermal runaway doesn't start with fire, it starts with gas. VOC sensors at the cell or rack level can detect electrolyte vapors up to 30 minutes before thermal runaway begins, creating an electrical isolation window that traditional smoke and heat detection cannot provide. We published a full breakdown of the science, the regulatory convergence, and what it means for project design: Off-Gas Detection and the New Standard of Care for BESS. |
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Get these updates on LinkedIn
Carina Dispatch is the monthly read. Our LinkedIn page is where our team posts updates as they happen, including the developments that don't make it into the newsletter. If you want a closer view of the BESS market between issues, follow Carina Energy on LinkedIn. |
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The Carina Dispatch
BESS market intelligence from Carina Energy — moratorium tracking, queue insights, and development analysis delivered twice a month. Explore our moratorium data at carina.energy/bess-moratoriums or read more on The Carina Rules at carina.energy/carina-rules.
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