Battery storage rules: Buffalo Township (Washington County), PA
Buffalo Township, Washington County, regulates utility-scale battery storage (more than 5 MW) as a conditional use in its Rural Agricultural, Highway Commercial and Light Industrial districts (Ordinance No. 114 of 2025, enacted December 17, 2025). Systems must meet NFPA 855, the fire protection plan is reviewed by the township's fire chief, and lithium systems need automatic fire suppression.
Buffalo Township: battery storage rules, 1,000 ft from a neighbour's home
Ordinance No. 114 of 2025 (enacted December 17, 2025) allows utility-scale battery storage over 5 MW as a conditional use in three districts, with NFPA 855 compliance, fire chief review of the fire protection plan, and setbacks up to 1,000 ft from an adjacent lot's existing residence. Buffalo Township Ordinance No. 114 of 2025
Fire and building codes in force
- Uniform Construction Code: 2021 IBC, IRC and IEBC, effective January 1, 2026 (34 Pa. Code §403.21; 55 Pa.B. 7701)
- 2021 IFC only to the extent other adopted ICC codes reference it (34 Pa. Code §403.21(a)(8), (b)); the 2021 IBC refers to IFC Section 1207 for energy storage detection (IBC 907.2.23) and explosion control (IBC 414.5.1 and Table 414.5.1)
- NFPA 855: not adopted by name in the Uniform Construction Code; local ordinances and fire codes may require it
- Local fire codes: each municipality may adopt and enforce its own (Act 45 §302(b))
How a project is permitted
Local zoning (a conditional use or special exception in the township's zoning ordinance) or county land-development review, plus a building permit under the Uniform Construction Code from the municipality's code official (or from Labor & Industry or its contracted agency where the municipality does not enforce the code). Ask your township or county planning office whether its zoning or land-development ordinance addresses battery storage. Ask your code official which parts of the fire code's energy storage section (IFC Section 1207) a building permit review applies, and your fire code official which fire code, and which NFPA 855 edition if any, the municipality enforces. Where the Department of Labor & Industry enforces the code, ask it whether a standalone outdoor battery enclosure needs a construction code permit.
State permits and reporting rules that may apply
- Ask whether the project has a written erosion and sediment control plan and, if it disturbs an acre or more, NPDES construction stormwater permit coverage from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) or the county conservation district. Pennsylvania requires the plan once earth disturbance (pads, roads, trenches, grading) totals 5,000 square feet or more, and the permit, with a post-construction stormwater plan, at 1 acre or more, including any larger plan of development the project is part of. 25 Pa. Code §§102.4(b)(2)(i), 102.5(a), 102.6(a)(1)
- Ask whether any stream, wetland or floodway touches the battery site, its access road or its power-line route, and if so whether a DEP Chapter 105 permit has been applied for. Fill, a structure or a crossing there needs a written DEP permit unless a listed waiver applies; where FEMA has not mapped the floodway, it is assumed to extend 50 feet from the top of the stream bank. 25 Pa. Code §§105.1, 105.11(a), 105.12
- Ask where water used on a fire at the site would drain, how it would be held back, and who would phone DEP if it could reach a stream, storm drain or ditch. The person in charge of the substance, or the owner or operator of the site, must notify DEP by telephone immediately when a substance that could pollute reaches, or could wash into, the state's waters (sewers, drains and ditches included), and must remove the residue within 15 days as the rules require. 25 Pa. Code §91.33(a)–(b)
- Ask whether the site will hold hazardous chemicals at Tier II reporting levels and, if so, whether the county emergency planning committee and the responding fire department will receive the report. Facilities with 10,000 pounds or more of a hazardous chemical, or 500 pounds or more (less for some) of an extremely hazardous one such as the sulfuric acid in lead-acid batteries, report to the Department of Labor & Industry by March 1 (and within 5 business days after a new chemical first reaches a reporting amount), and the county committee and local fire department must also get the report. PA Department of Labor & Industry, Tier II (PATTS); 40 CFR 370.10; EPA, "How does a facility report batteries for Tier II?" (updated Mar. 24, 2026)
Setbacks and spacing
- Measured from the perimeter fence: 300 ft from occupied community buildings and dwellings on non-participating properties; 50 ft from a public road right-of-way; for non-participating parties, 300 ft from property lines and 1,000 ft from an adjacent lot's existing residence Local ordinance Buffalo Township Ordinance No. 114 of 2025
Sources
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