Fire at world’s largest battery facility sets back clean energy

A fire at the world’s largest battery storage factory in California has destroyed 300 megawatts of energy storage, forced the evacuation of 1,200 local residents and posed a potential health threat to humans and wildlife. Smoke was released. The accident wiped out 2 percent of California’s energy storage capacity, which the state relies on as part of its transition to more renewable electricity and less use of fossil fuels.

The fire broke out on the afternoon of January 16, gutting a concrete building containing lithium batteries at the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in Monterey County, California. Other buildings on the site, including additional battery storage facilities and a natural gas plant, were not affected. By the morning of January 17, local authorities reported minimal flames and smoke.

“This is more than just a fire; it’s a wake-up call for our industry,” he said. glen churchthe Monterey County Board of Supervisors member said at a news conference. “To promote sustainable energy, we must have safe battery systems in place.” The fire broke out after a press conference on the morning of January 17th. It happened again that afternoon.This will lead to an extension of the evacuation order.

Because lithium fires burn at high temperatures and release toxic substances such as hydrogen fluoride, firefighters do not deal with these types of fires directly, but rather allow them to burn out on their own. There were no reports of fire-related injuries, and air monitoring systems detected no signs of hydrogen fluoride. However, he said the smoke from the fire likely contained heavy metals and PFAS, known as permanent chemicals. dustin mulvaney At San Jose State University, California.

local civil servant Currently giving advice Monterey County residents should stay indoors and close their doors and windows. Inhaled heavy metals and PFAS can pose health risks to local residents and farm workers. These substances could also affect wildlife such as sea otters that live in the nearby Elkhorn Slough salt marshes, Mulvaney said.

The building destroyed was one of two battery facilities in Moss Landing owned by Texas-based company Vistra Energy. The facility has previously experienced less serious incidents, including battery overheating and fire suppression system failures. But the facility that went up in flames this week had a water-based fire suppression system in place, and it’s unclear why it failed, Vistra Energy officials said at a news conference. They are still investigating the root cause of the fire.

Despite the incident, the report said that utility-scale battery storage systems for power grids saw a 97% reduction in failures, often fire-related, between 2018 and 2023. report By the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC.

“This significant decline is observed despite the fact that utility-scale storage deployments continue to grow at a high rate,” he says. maria chavez At the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Battery storage systems are designed with multiple levels of safety features aimed at preventing and mitigating issues such as the risk of fire. Unfortunately, accidents like the one that occurred at the Moss Landing facility continue to occur. may occur.”

Mulvaney said California is better prepared than most U.S. states to respond to such incidents, with a state law requiring local governments to work with battery developers to develop emergency response plans. . He explained that we need to learn from events like this when designing future battery storage systems.

However, the loss of most or all of Moss Landing’s 300-megawatt facility would severely impact Vistra Energy’s overall 750-megawatt on-site energy storage capacity and California’s total energy storage capacity of 13,300 megawatts. It turns out. energy storage capacity.

Moss Landing has served the state’s power grid by storing renewable energy and reducing reliance on fossil fuels such as natural gas plants, Mulvaney said. While rebuilding and restoring battery capacity could take years, this is a significant step given that California is already facing major rebuilding needs elsewhere due to the Los Angeles wildfires. It’s a challenge.

“A battery fire like this is impossible,” Mulvaney said. “You can’t lose 300 megawatts of battery overnight like this.”