A 100 MW battery proposed on McKinstry Road, stalled by a Town of Gardiner moratorium now in its second extension and running into mid-2026.
Town of Gardiner · Ulster County · Energy storage · Status: stalled (under town moratorium)
A 10.5-acre, 100 MW / 4-hour utility-scale battery storage facility was proposed on McKinstry Road in the Town of Gardiner, on a site reported to lie within the NYSDEC Shawangunk Kill Special Biodiversity Area. The project narrative dates to 2024, and it was presented to the Town Planning Board in 2025. The applicant/developer is not identified in available public sources. (Stewards of Shawangunk)
Gardiner responded with Local Law 3 of 2025, a six-month moratorium on processing battery-storage applications — set, after Planning Board input, at systems with aggregate capacity above 600 kWh — adopted following a July 2025 public hearing. The law frames the pause as buying time to draft zoning, stating the town's intent eventually to permit such facilities "in the interest of promoting the use of renewable energy sources." It is now in its second extension, reported to run until July 14, 2026, and the town has held community forums while it works on regulations. (Stewards of Shawangunk)
Gardiner sits between the precautionary towns and the killed projects: unlike Chester or Athens, it has a real, sized application on the table; unlike Montgomery or Plattekill, it has not converted its moratorium into a permanent ban. The pause has held the project in place for over a year without resolving it — the defining feature of a stalled outcome. Whether Gardiner lands on workable zoning that lets a revised project proceed, or extends until the applicant gives up, is what this case tracks. The biggest gap in the public record is the most basic one: who the developer is.