The Impact of Utility-scale Battery Energy Storage System Projects on Property Values in California, Massachusetts, and New York

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The Wharton School::Wharton Undergraduate Research::Wharton Research Scholars
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Economics
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Battery Energy Storage System
Externalities
Housing Prices
Infrastructure
Energy
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2025
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Yixin Gwee
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Abstract

As the clean energy transition becomes increasingly pressing, this paper investigates the impact of utility-scale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects on nearby property values in California, Massachusetts, and New York. While utility-scale BESS projects produce positive externalities such as renewable integration and grid stabilization, they also generate negative externalities such as the risk of fires for nearby properties. Since no paper has analyzed the effect of utility-scale BESS projects on nearby property values, the paper contributes to the literature on climate-related infrastructure. A hedonic difference-in-differences (DID) model is employed to analyze the causal effect of an operational utility-scale BESS project on property values. Using a stacked-by-event DID approach across 178 utility-scale BESS projects, the paper finds that houses near an operational utility-scale BESS project do not experience significant price changes compared to houses farther from the same project. The null result is robust across individual event studies, years from treatment, and census tracts with different socioeconomic characteristics. Keywords: Battery Energy Storage System, Externalities, Housing Prices, Infrastructure, Energy

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2025
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