Hamilton County BZA denies Aypa Power’s battery storage project

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (HAMILTON COUNTY REPORTER) — The Hamilton County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) met Wednesday evening in the Council Chambers at the Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center, 1 Hamilton County Square, Noblesville, in order to hear a petition from Aypa Power.

The petition was asking for a variance to build a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in an A-2 (agricultural) zoning district located at 21598 Overdorf Road.

After a meeting that lasted well over two hours and involved dozens of public comments and several direct questions from BZA members, the board voted unanimously to deny the petition.

One person in attendance told The Reporter more than 100 people were present for the public hearing. Thirty people spoke out asking the board to either deny the petition outright or order a continuance so critical questions could be answered by the developer. Only three spoke in favor of the petition.

Aypa Power has only been in existence since 2017, and in that time has had at least one other BESS facility catch fire. Aypa Senior Manager Brandon Gahman specified that the fire in Moss Landing, Calif., was not lithium-ion batteries, but was instead lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide batteries.

The proposed facility would have had a battery backup capacity 200 Megawatts for four-hour duration (800 MWh), which could have powered approximately 60,000 homes in the event it was needed.

Those interested can read the 437-page proposal by Aypa Power, and those who would like to watch the hearing online can do so on YouTube.

This story was originally published July 25, 2025, by the Hamilton County Reporter at https://readthereporter.com/farmland-beats-batteries/.

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