As a major fire near San Jose, California, that devastated one of the world’s largest battery energy storage facilities is extinguished, investigators have begun an on-site investigation of the cause The fire that began Jan. 16 destroyed most of a 300 MW lithium-ion battery pack at Vistra Energy’s 750 MW Moss Landing storage site at a gas-fired power plant outside of service
“There are still no active flames, while a limited amount of smoke continues to subside,” Vistra said in a statement posted on an incident website. Separately, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement saying the air around the plant is safe.
Vistra has hired a structural engineering firm, which was not identified at the time of publishing the story, to lead the effort to remove the remaining batteries when conditions permit and has retained other “external experts” related to the investigation, it says a spokesperson LG Chem, the battery maker, is on site and information is being shared.
At a Jan. 21 meeting, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve an emergency declaration and urge that Moss Landing remain offline while the fire is investigated. “We’re asking for nothing less than full commitment … until the situation is completely safe,” County Supervisor Glenn Church said before the meeting.
“We are committed to working closely with our community partners and local officials to determine how best we can help, and will have more information to share in the coming days,” another Vistra spokesperson told the board
‘Preparation’
County emergency response officials declared the fire a major operations incident and a local disaster that required the closure of nearby Highway 1 and day-long evacuations.
County Fire Chief Joel Mendoza said Jan. 17 that a fire suppression system housed in one of the facility’s battery racks had failed, allowing the fire to spread .
No estimate of the cost of the damage was provided.
“The incident shows that more effort is needed in preparedness, as well as “containment and making sure fires don’t spread,” says Dustin Mulvaney, a professor of environmental studies at San Jose State University and an expert on ion batteries of lithium that oversees California’s rapidly growing energy storage sector “This industry needs to work harder on emergency response plans,” he adds, “most other states don’t require emergency response plans. , so other states may want to consider them.”
But Mulvaney believes the fire “will have little or no impact on the development of battery energy storage in California,” which he says aims to have 52 GW of battery storage within 20 years, more than the current level of 13.4 GW, of which 85% is utility-scale storage.
“This fire may cause some proposed projects to redesign batteries housed in buildings,” like some are at Moss Landing, Mulvaney says, “but it won’t slow down the deployment trajectory.”
Operated by Iriving, Texas-based Vistra, the facility stores surplus energy generated from renewable sources and releases it during periods of high demand.
expansions
Moss Landing has undergone two expansions since its original 300 MW development was completed in 2020, the area where the fire occurred and was confined. Previous safety incidents include several battery melting events in 2022. with suppression to prevent a fire.
In a 2024 report, ENR noted the completion of the third battery site expansion that added 350 MW of capacity. Everyone on site was given the authority to stop work, the report says, and designer Burns & McDonnell worked closely with local fire officials and educated employees about the risks of thermal runaway and prevention responses. of fires
It could not be determined at the time of publication of the ENR whether the company is assisting with the fire investigation.
The American Clean Power Association last year published a model ordinance for states and municipalities to regulate energy storage system safety, permitting, siting, environmental compliance and decommissioning.
Despite the event, growth in the global long-term battery storage market is expected to be strong, although the impacts in the US of tariffs and other rumored trade measures from the Trump administration are not yet they are clear
