Fire at world’s largest battery facility is a setback for clean energy

A fire broke out at the world’s largest battery storage plant in California, destroying 300 megawatts of energy storage, forcing the evacuation of 1,200 local residents and releasing plumes of smoke that could pose a threat to the health of humans and wildlife. The incident resulted in the loss of 2% of California’s energy storage capacity, which the state relies on as part of its transition to use more renewable power and less fossil fuels.

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

“This is really more than a fire. It’s a wake-up call for the industry,” he said. glen churchMonterey County Board of Supervisors members at a press conference. “To advance sustainable energy, we need safe battery systems.” Flames erupted after the press conference on the morning of January 17th It burned again that afternoonEvacuation orders have been extended.

Because lithium fires burn at high temperatures and release toxic substances such as hydrogen fluoride, firefighters often let these types of fires burn out on their own rather than deal with them directly. There were no reports of injuries related to the fire and no signs of hydrogen fluoride were detected by the air monitoring system. But they say the smoke plume from the fire likely contained heavy metals and PFAS (better known as perennial chemicals). Dustin Mulvaney from San Jose State University in California.

local government officials Currently advising Monterey County residents should stay indoors and keep doors and windows closed. 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 marsh wetlands, Mulvaney says.

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

Despite these incidents, utility-scale battery systems for the power grid are said to have reduced fire-related failures by 97% globally between 2018 and 2023. report Provided by the Electric Power Research Institute, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C.

“This massive decline is observed even though utility-scale storage deployments continue to grow at a rapid pace,” he says. maria chavez From the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Battery storage systems are designed with multiple levels of safety features aimed at preventing and mitigating issues such as fire hazards. Unfortunately, accidents like those at the Moss Landing facility can still occur.”

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

However, the loss of most or all of Moss Landing’s 300-megawatt facility would be a significant blow to Vistra Energy’s total 750 megawatts of on-site energy storage capacity and a total of 13,300 megawatts in California. energy storage capacity.

Moss Landing has been serving the state’s power grid by storing renewable energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels such as natural gas power plants, Mulvaney said. Rebuilding and rebuilding battery capacity can take years. That’s a big ask, considering California is already facing massive rebuilding needs elsewhere due to the Los Angeles wildfires.

“You can’t have a battery fire like this,” Mulvaney says. “You can’t lose 300 megawatts of batteries overnight like this.”