Frequently Asked Questions
Money
McHenry County residents currently pay about $236 per month for electricity, ~6% above the national average. ComEd customers saw 20-25% bill increases in 2025 due to record-high capacity prices in the PJM market. Battery storage helps by adding supply when demand is highest, which is exactly when prices spike. In Texas, battery storage contributed to $750 million in consumer savings since 2023. The savings come from avoiding expensive peak power purchases — costs that otherwise get passed along to customers.
Approximately $5 million per year. To put that in perspective, that’s enough to cover roughly 33% of the District 46 school budget, about 11% of the McHenry County Sheriff’s budget, and nearly 3 times Prairie Grove’s entire annual property tax revenue, without costing taxpayers anything.
No. Battery storage facilities are quiet, clean infrastructure similar to electrical substations. The economic benefits and improved grid reliability typically enhance community value. Plus, many buyers today specifically want communities with modern, reliable infrastructure.
The project owner carries comprehensive insurance and is legally required to post bonds covering any cleanup or decommissioning costs. Taxpayers have zero financial risk.
Safety
Monarch Grid uses Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries – a fundamentally different and safer chemistry than the batteries in older facilities you may have seen in the news. Those incidents involved NMC batteries housed in walk-in buildings, built before modern safety codes existed.
LFP batteries do not release oxygen during failure, contain no heavy metals like cobalt or nickel, and are housed in outdoor cabinets that vent heat upward rather than trapping it. The fire incident rate for BESS is just 0.6%, compared to 3.4% for gas stations and 5.8% for industrial facilities.
Your local fire department will receive specific training for this facility, and the system is monitored around the clock.
Very little. At the property line, you’d hear less noise than from normal street traffic. The equipment runs quietly – similar to a large air conditioning unit.
During normal operation, there are no emissions at all. Even in the rare event of a problem, studies of actual incidents show that any emissions stay very localized and dissipate quickly, no different than any other type of standard structural fire with no lasting effects on air quality.
The equipment looks like large, clean shipping containers arranged neatly on a fenced site with landscaping and screening to minimize visual impact. Within five years, vegetation screening matures to the point where the facility is largely hidden from surrounding properties. The site is adjacent to existing industrial infrastructure, fitting the character of the area.
During normal operations: There are no liquid discharges. LFP batteries use a solid or semi-solid electrolyte that cannot leak or seep into the soil. The containers sit on concrete foundations that act as a barrier between equipment and the earth.
In the rare event of an incident: Significantly less water is used compared to traditional firefighting, reducing runoff volume. The site includes stormwater management and containment basins designed to capture runoff before it can enter the local watershed or aquifer.
Cleanup: Certified crews test and, if contaminants are detected, pump water from containment basins into tanker trucks for transport to a licensed treatment center. LFP byproducts (iron, phosphate, lithium salts) are common minerals already found in groundwater – not exotic "forever chemicals." The site is required to comply with local, state, and federal regulations ensuring remediation to previous conditions.
Practical
Very minimal impact. After construction (6-12 months), the facility requires only occasional maintenance visits – maybe one service truck per week.
You’re more likely to notice what doesn’t happen – the grid becomes more stable overall. If a large power plant or major transmission line fails, battery storage helps prevent the kind of widespread cascading blackouts that can affect entire regions. For local outages (like a tree falling on your neighborhood lines), you’d still lose power just like before.
Because the infrastructure is already here — transmission lines and a substation are already on site, so there are no new power lines through the community. The site is adjacent to existing industrial facilities, with existing road access that minimizes disruption. You get all the benefits (lower costs, better reliability, $5 million in annual tax revenue, 110 construction jobs) with minimal impact. It’s modern infrastructure that makes your community more attractive and economically competitive.
The Bottom Line
There’s no catch. This is proven technology that’s already working in hundreds of communities. We make money by providing grid services to the utility, the community gets reliable power and tax revenue, and everyone wins.
Your location is perfect for grid services, you have the right electrical infrastructure nearby, and frankly, you have a community that’s forward-thinking enough to embrace technology that benefits everyone.
Reach out to us and ask tough questions. Talk to residents in other communities with battery storage. Look at the safety data yourself. We’re confident that the more you learn, the more you’ll want this project in McHenry County.
