As a significant fire was overlooked by San Jose, California, which devastated one of the largest battery storage facilities in the world, researchers have begun on -site investigation of the cause. The fire that began on January 16 destroyed most of a 300 MW lithium ion batteries in the 750 MW Energy Vistra 750 MW storage site in a gas power plant outside of service.
“There are still no active flames, while a limited amount of fumes continues to decrease,” Visra said in a statement published on a website in the incident. Separately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement saying that the air around the plant is safe.
Vistra has hired a structural engineering company, not identified when publishing the story, to guide the effort to eliminate the remaining batteries when the conditions allow it and has retained other “external experts” related to the research, he says A spokesman. LG Chem, the battery maker, is on the site and information is being shared.
At a meeting of January 21, the Monterey County Supervisors Board unanimously approved an emergency declaration and urged Moss Landing to remain offline while the fire was investigated. “We ask no less than a total commitment … until the situation is completely safe,” said County Supervisor Glenn Church before the meeting.
“We have committed to work closely with our community partners and local officials to determine the best way to help, and we will have more information to share it in the coming days,” said another spokesman for Vistra on the Board.
‘Preparation’
County emergency response officials declared a significant operations incident and a local disaster that required the closing of the nearby 1 road and a day evacuations.
County Fire Chief, Joel Mendoza, said on January 17 that a fire extinguishing system housed in one of the installation’s batteries racks failed, which allowed the fire to spread .
No estimation of the cost of damage was provided.
“The incident shows that more effort in preparation is needed, as well as” containment and ensure that fires are not propagated, “says Dustin Mulvaney, a professor of environmental studies at San Jose’s State University and an expert in ion batteries. of lithium that oversees the rapid growth of California. , so other states may want to consider them. “
But Mulvaney believes that the fire “pulls little or no impact on the development of battery energy storage in California”, which says it aims to have 52 GW of battery storage in 20 years, more than The current level of 13.4 GW, of which 85% is a public service storage.
“This fire can cause some projects proposed to redesign the batteries housed in buildings,” as some are in Moss Landing, says Mulvaney, “but it will not stop the deployment trajectory.”
Operated by Vistra, based in Iriving, Texas, the installation stores the surplus energy generated from renewable sources and releases it during the periods of high demand.
Expansions
Moss Landing has undergone two expansions since its original 300 MW, the area where the fire occurred in 2020 was completed and limited. Previous security incidents include various battery melting events by 2022. With the removal to prevent a fire.
In a report of 2024, Enr pointed to the end of the third expansion of the battery site, which added 350 MW capacity. Everyone on the site received the authority to stop the work, says the report, and designer Burns & McDonnell worked closely with local firefighters and educated employees on the risks of thermal escape and prevention prevention responses. of fires.
It could not be determined when publishing the ENR if the company is helping with the fire research.
The American Clean Power Association published a model ordinance for the states and municipalities last year to regulate the safety of the energy storage system, permits, location, environmental compliance and closure.
In spite of the event, it is expected that the growth of the world long -term battery storage market will be strong, although the US impacts on tariffs and other rumors of commercial measures of the Trump administration has not yet They are clear.