Battery storage rules: Dickinson Township (Cumberland County), PA
Dickinson Township, Cumberland County, regulates battery storage of 100 kWh or more (Ordinance No. 2026-03, enacted October 7, 2026). "Commercial-Scale" systems (over 100 kWh and under 10 MWh) are an accessory use by conditional use in the Conservation, Agricultural, Mixed Use, Mining Industrial and Business Industrial zones; "Utility-Scale" systems (10 MWh or more) are a principal or accessory use by conditional use in the Business Industrial zone only. All systems must comply with NFPA 855 and UL 9540, and applicants must provide UL 9540A test reports and a hazard mitigation analysis. Ask the township how it treats systems between 20 and 100 kWh.
Dickinson Township: battery storage rules; utility-scale sites 500 ft from residential zones and schools
Ordinance No. 2026-03 (enacted October 7, 2026) makes battery storage of 100 kWh or more a conditional use, with NFPA 855, UL 9540 and UL 9540A requirements, a hazard mitigation analysis, a fire protection engineering report by a Pennsylvania-licensed engineer, an emergency response plan, and decommissioning security of 110% of the estimated cost. A principal-use Utility-Scale system may make no more than 55 dBA / 75 dBC at a property line next to residential property (65 dBA / 85 dBC otherwise). Dickinson Township Ordinance No. 2026-03
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
- For a principal-use Utility-Scale system: buildings, parking, staging and loading areas at least 500 ft from the Agricultural, Low-Density Residential and Mixed Use zones and from property containing a school, day-care, park, playground, library, hospital or nursing home, and 200 ft from a residential use in other zones; 50-acre minimum lot Local ordinance Dickinson Township Ordinance No. 2026-03
Sources
Check a specific system
For a proposal or a system you're evaluating, answer a few questions in BESScheck: you get the rules that apply here, a checklist of what to ask, and the sources behind each line.