The Moss Landing Battery Fire: What It Means for California's Energy Storage Future

As the destructive Los Angeles blazes rage this winter, claiming lives and livelihoods while thrusting the region into an insurance nightmare, another fire broke out some 300 miles north in the quiet seaside town of Moss Landing that may also shape California climate policy in the coming months and years. 

Source: https://www.ksbw.com/article/fire-moss-landing-battery-storage-facility/63487698 

Around 3 pm on Thursday, January 16, the world’s third-largest lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS), accounting for about 2 percent of California’s energy storage capacity, caught fire and quickly erupted in an inferno that lit up the horizon for miles around. Owned by the Texas-based Vistra Corporation, the 300 MW system experienced system failure in the fourth such incident the complex has experienced since 2021. Officials promptly closed part of Highway 1 for three days and issued an evacuation order for roughly 1,200 nearby residents until the following evening when air quality monitoring showed no threats to human health. Inspections on Sunday morning showed no active flames, and by Wednesday there was only minor smoldering reported.  

Emergency responders were able to keep the fire limited to the repurposed turbine hall housing the BESS, which was Phase 1 of four separate battery systems located at the Moss Landing Power Plant complex; the others were unaffected. The primary hazards beyond the actual fire were the particulates and hazardous chemicals released, but through diligent air quality testing it was determined that favorable wind and atmospheric conditions prevented the smoke from reaching ground level — a lucky break for the foggy Central Coast. Some residents reported headaches and respiratory problems, although so far these appear to be minor in severity. Unfortunately, elevated levels of nickel, manganese, and cobalt nanoparticles were detected in the soil of the surrounding area, which includes the nearby Elkhorn Slough and Salinas River; further testing is needed to determine the impact on local wildlife.

This incident naturally raises concerns about the safety of large lithium-ion battery installations, especially in light of the three previous battery fires at the site; concerns that are already being acted upon by local and state officials. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting on Tuesday, January 21, and unanimously approved declaring a state of emergency as well as sending a non-binding request to Vistra and Pacific Gas & Electric to keep the facility offline until the cause of the fire is determined. The County is also forming a special unit to monitor and communicate the fire’s air quality impacts, and is being assisted in investigating and remediating the site by a multitude of state agencies including the EPA, the Energy Commission, the Public Utilities Commission, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control. While the full scope of impacts will only become clear with time, what do we know now that can help us understand what, if anything, this incident says about the risks associated with large-scale BESS?

To take a little step back, all forms of energy storage and generation inherently carry some risk, simply because energy is the capacity to make things happen. And the more energy you have concentrated in one location, the greater the risk. This is true for everything from oil, coal, and uranium to dammed waters, compressed air, flywheels, and, of course, batteries. So the issue is not whether we can make a 100 percent safe battery, but if we can adequately manage the risk to an acceptable level while maximizing the benefits. Was there more that could have been done to make the Moss Landing Phase 1 battery system safer?

Source: https://www.santacruzworks.org/news/the-role-of-large-scale-energy-storage-systems-benefits-risks-and-comparisons 

In short, yes; there were at least three factors at play that increased the risk of catastrophic failure. First, the battery that burned was the oldest of the four systems installed at the site and utilized a lesser-used, more fire-prone type of chemistry. Second, it was housed indoors in an old building; current industry standards call for large batteries like this to be sited outdoors on physically spaced concrete pads to prevent the fire from spreading. And third, the fire suppression system used has been implicated in starting all three previous fires experienced at this site since 2021, all of which were started by water leaking from pipes onto the battery cells directly or on other electrical equipment in the room (first, second, third).

A modern BESS would not have this combination of risk factors, making the repeated failures of the Moss Landing system a fairly unique case; one that will become even rarer as time goes on. Recent DOE studies show that BESS failure rates have plummeted while deployment has skyrocketed, providing clear evidence that this technology is getting safer and more reliable as the industry develops. And even looking at the severity of the Moss Landing BESS fire, this was one of the largest lithium-ion batteries in the world, located in a sensitive ecological area, suffering a worst case scenario meltdown — yet no one was injured, and there was relatively minor environmental damage and only brief interruptions to daily life for nearby residents.

Source: https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/BESSIE_supply-chain-battery-report_111124_OPENRELEASE_SJ_1.pdf?trk=public_post_comment-text 

So while this event should be taken seriously (as state and local officials are), it should not be taken as representative of the industry as a whole. California and the world need forms of energy storage, especially as solar and wind energy continue to grow, and lithium-ion batteries have proven to be safe, reliable, and valuable assets in our journey toward a climate-friendly future.

NOTES - DO NOT POST WITH BLOG

I think we should post something about the Moss Landing Battery Plant fires. This article in Santa Cruz Works was pretty good and maybe all we need is a short piece that links to it. We could also do a cool post on energy storage to address safety concerns - what is the real risk? Li-ion is trusted tech that's ubiquitous throughout our lives. Mynt utilizes Li-ion and continues to believe it's safe - are we concerned? What are the viable alternatives - H2, thermal storage, pumped hydro, etc.?

https://www.santacruzworks.org/news/moss-landing-fire?mc_cid=59f3678a53&mc_eid=15a9437ceb

I thought this comparison table was a good reminder of what the downside of the other options is https://www.santacruzworks.org/news/the-role-of-large-scale-energy-storage-systems-benefits-risks-and-comparisons

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/moss-landing-battery-fire-vistra/737837/

It was the fourth fire since 2020 at the Moss Landing site and an adjacent 182.5-MW battery energy storage facility owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric, Church said in a Friday news conference. But the latest incident “does look and feel very different,” Addis added.

The 300-MW battery array that burned is part of the 750-MW Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility, which occupies a decommissioned gas-fired power plant dating back to the 1950s. 

Legislation signed in October 2023 by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D, required battery energy storage facilities in the state to develop “an emergency response and emergency action plan” in coordination with local authorities. Assemblymember Addis co-authored the bill.

The battery array that burned was commissioned in 2020, making it one of the oldest utility-scale battery installations of its size in California. Its vintage suggests it may not have been built to the strict fire safety standards supported by ACP, said Dustin Mulvaney, an environmental studies professor at nearby San Jose State University who studies energy storage systems. Mulvaney added that he did not have direct knowledge of the Moss Landing facility’s design or safety features.

A spokesperson for the American Clean Power Association, a trade group that advocates for the energy storage industry, pushed back on comparisons to the Three Mile Island incident — cleanup of which took 12 years and cost $973 million — and said operational U.S. energy storage facilities had seen only 20 fire-related incidents in the past 10 years, despite energy storage deployment growing by more than 25,000% since 2018.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/moss-landing-battery-blaze-officials-demand-independent-investigation-of-lithium-ion-fire/ar-AA1xBlx7

A state lawmaker and a Monterey County supervisor are calling for the Vistra Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility to remain closed until an independent investigation can determine the cause of last week’s fire.

Church said he wants more fire prevention put in place. After speaking with local fire officials, the supervisor said it is clear to him there’s no proven way to just extinguish a battery fire once it’s reached the magnitude of the Vistra blaze.

“Attempts to put out battery fires at other sites have only worsened the situation,” Church said. “Water is used initially only when the batteries start to heat, not when flames have emerged. I find the lack of a proven system to extinguish the fires highly alarming. We simply cannot have a fire incident every year or two and expect that to be normal.”

Monterey County said Monday air monitors near the facility hadn’t detected dangerous levels of hydrogen fluoride (HF).

Specifically, officials said the levels haven’t exceeded California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s (OEHHA’s) acute Reference Exposure Level (REL).

Monterey County said concentrations of small particulate matter (PM 2.5) have been measured at levels categorized by MBARD as “good” to “moderate.”

https://www.mbard.org/files/23c4cccaa/Battery+Fire+MBARD+Press+Release+English+20250117.pdf

It appears that there was good dispersion or dilution of smoke from the fire and the plume was elevated above populated areas traveling towards Watsonville and Santa Cruz County.  Based on the elevated plume and particulate matter monitor and sensor data, smoke from the battery fire did not impact ground-level areas where people live. 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/09/tech/lithium-ion-battery-fires/index.html

“Lithium batteries are generally safe and unlikely to fail, but only so long as there are no defects and the batteries are not damaged or mistreated,” said Steve Kerber, vice president and executive director of Underwriters Laboratory’s (UL) Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI). “The more batteries that surround us the more incidents we will see.”

Although some battery chemistries are safer than others, we are still a few years away from adoption of a better, safer lithium-ion alternative, according to Sridhar Srinivasan, a senior director at market research firm Gartner.

For example, LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries don’t overheat as much as other types of lithium-ion batteries. Future battery technologies in development, such as sodium-ion or solid state batteries, are also expected to address some of the safety issues of lithium ion.

https://www.mosslandingresponse.com/

January 19, 2025

Personnel conducted onsite inspections this morning and while some small pockets of smoldering were observed, there was no active flame.  The condition at the site is contained, and the work of the response team has been successful in improving the situation.

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/article298903765.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/monterey-county-unanimously-approves-state-of-emergency-for-moss-landing-fire/ar-AA1xBV7a

The board unanimously approved sending a letter to both battery plant facilities to request they remain offline while the cause of the fire was investigated and addressed and both battery plants met Senate Bill 38 and have an emergency plan in place for a worst-case scenario.

The letter would hold no power over PG&E and Vistra and they could turn back on when they chose to.

The board of supervisors also unanimously approved that Supervisors Glenn Church and Kate Daniels will form an Ad Hoc committee with county and state officials and experts in the field to determine the best course of action moving forward and to create a list of potential options.