Hearth At Moss Touchdown Might Flip Again The Clock On Battery Storage In California

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As if California was not struggling sufficient due to the horrific wildfires sweeping by Los Angeles, a separate fireplace on the Moss Touchdown battery storage facility between Santa Cruz and Monterey may very well be a significant setback for battery storage within the Golden State. A number of BESS installations are positioned on the website of the Moss Touchdown methane-powered thermal producing station that has been in operation since Harry Truman was within the White Home.

The primary section was a 300 MW/1,200 MWh set up accomplished in 2020, which was adopted by one other 100 MW/400 MWh in Part II accomplished the next yr. Part 3 — 350 MW/1,400 MWh — was added in August 2023, making it one of many largest battery storage installations on the planet with a complete of 750 MW/3,000 MWh. All three phases are owned and operated by Vistra Vitality. Constructing the BESS facility on the website of the Vistra methane producing station meant the corporate was capable of leverage the present electrical energy grid infrastructure whereas minimizing zoning points.

As well as, it allowed for potential additional progress of the BESS plant, Vistra Vitality CEO Jim Burke advised Vitality Storage Information in 2023. The corporate stated the Moss Touchdown Vitality Storage Facility might ultimately host 1.5 GW/6 GWh of battery storage if market situations make that viable. Along with the Vistra BESS set up, PG&E additionally has the 182.5 MW/730 MWh Elkhorn Battery mission on the Moss Touchdown website. The Vistra batteries use cells provided by LG Vitality Resolution whereas the Elkhorm batteries are provided by Tesla.

Moss Touchdown Battery Storage Catches Hearth

In response to Lookout Santa Cruz, on Thursday, January 16, 2024, the Part One portion of the Vistra battery storage facility caught fireplace, sending smoke 1000 toes excessive into the air and shockwaves by the BESS business in California. Santa Cruz County well being officers on Friday morning canceled a warning for residents to stay indoors, saying in an alert that there was “no imminent important risk” from the hearth.

North Monterey County Hearth Chief Joel Mendoza advised a media briefing that the hearth had largely died down. On a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the hearth at its peak, the blaze was “within the neighborhood of 1% to five%,” he stated. He added that preliminary monitoring by Vistra and the Environmental Safety Company confirmed that there was no hydrogen fluoride fuel detected within the space. Hydrogen fluoride fuel is a extremely poisonous fuel that may be emitted from lithium battery fires. He reiterated that there have been no accidents to any civilians, plant personnel, or any first responders.

Brad Watson, senior director of neighborhood affairs at Vistra, advised a Friday morning information convention that the corporate is taking the incident very severely and that security is its prime precedence. Vistra Regional Vice President Pete Ziegler stated the corporate would share additional details about the incident because it turns into out there. “We don’t know the basis explanation for this but. Clearly it’s lower than 24 hours previous, so as soon as now we have that, we will make changes based mostly on these findings.”

Response from state and native officers was swift. State Senator John Laird unhappy, “It’s simply tragic. The purpose of everybody being secure, and the purpose of getting off fossil fuels and having a clear power grid, are in battle with this case.” State and native leaders all through this environmentally minded Central Coast unleashed a refrain of frustration and disappointment. All demanded accountability and acknowledged the skepticism forward for this know-how meant to scrub the air, not fill it with poisonous chemical compounds.

Assemblymember Daybreak Addis, whose district stretches from San Luis Obispo into Dwell Oak, known as for accountability from Vistra Corp., the Texas-based firm that owns the ability. “We can’t see one other battery storage fireplace ever in the way forward for California and we have to completely ensure that that by no means occurs once more in Moss Touchdown,” she stated. “I’m in search of that dedication. We had been advised this facility is secure. Clearly there’s points right here. We will by no means return to these conversations. We have now to go ahead and know that is by no means going to occur once more in California.”

“That is actually a Three Mile Island occasion for this business,” stated Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church. “If renewable power goes to be the long run, it actually must be secure power. There’s acquired to be classes realized from this. There actually must be a full unbiased investigation of what’s occurred right here.”

The hearth marks the fourth, and by far the most important, emergency response incident at Moss Touchdown in lower than 4 years. Battery packs smoked up and triggered the hearth suppression system twice over a five-month interval on the Vistra website between 2021 and 2022. In September 2022, a close-by battery facility owned by Tesla and Pacific Fuel & Electrical caught fireplace, shutting down Freeway 1 and forcing a shelter in place order.

Different Battery Storage Plans Might Be Affected

The hearth at Moss Touchdown occurred one month after Santa Cruz County obtained an software for a $200 million, 200 MW battery storage facility in South County, simply exterior of Watsonville, a neighborhood positioned north of Moss Touchdown nearer to Santa Cruz. The mission, submitted by Massachusetts-based New Leaf Vitality, is in its early levels and is anticipated to come back earlier than the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors for approval later this yr. Native officers are already saying the Moss Touchdown fireplace will make it a more durable promote.

“There’s going to be a excessive degree of scrutiny, particularly in gentle of this catastrophe,” District 3 Supervisor Justin Cummings advised Lookout. “I’m actually going to be targeted on that. That is the tightrope we stroll with making an attempt to maneuver right into a inexperienced age the place we transfer away from fossil fuels.” District 1 Supervisor Manu Koenig known as it “loopy timing” {that a} fireplace broke out simply because the county is beginning to take into account a battery facility of its personal. He stated the truth that the newest fireplace is the fourth incident since late 2021 is regarding.

“It appears much less like a threat that possibly a hearth will occur and extra like an inevitability {that a} fireplace at these amenities will occur,” Koenig stated. “New know-how has dangers, and as public officers now we have to quantify these dangers and decide whether or not or not it’s value it. We’re now seeing that the dangers related to these giant battery amenities may be greater than we anticipated. I’m undoubtedly going to be scrutinizing the information.”

County spokesperson Jason Hoppin stated a full vetting of the Moss Touchdown fireplace will probably be essential earlier than the county commits to contemplating a battery storage facility inside its borders. “We have to see the outcomes of the investigation into this facility and to be satisfied sufficient safeguards are in place to scale back the prospect of an identical occasion — to as near zero as doable — earlier than making any choices on situations for a future facility.”

The security options and design of the battery storage facility proposed for South County are totally different from the Moss Touchdown battery facility, stated Max Christian, mission lead for New Leaf Vitality. The batteries will probably be saved in metal containers that may have warmth monitoring and fireplace suppression methods, he stated. Every container will probably be separated by a number of toes. If a battery was to catch on fireplace on the storage facility, the smoke wouldn’t disperse into the air however stay contained in the container, he stated. As well as, the batteries are designed to adjust to California’s security pointers and laws. New Leaf is working with native fireplace companies to debate greatest security practices because the mission continues, Christian stated. He added that the corporate will take what’s occurring in Moss Touchdown as a studying device in the case of bettering security requirements for the Watsonville mission as extra info turns into out there.

Mark Jacobson Responds

Mark Jacobson, professor of environmental engineering at Stanford College, took a extra nuanced view. He advised Mercury Information that fires at battery crops are uncommon. By serving to the state’s renewable power continue to grow, they’re decreasing the quantity of electrical energy generated from pure fuel, which in flip reduces soot and smog, he stated. “I don’t take into account this a catastrophe. San Bruno was a catastrophe,” Jacobson stated, referring to the explosion of a PG&E pure fuel pipeline in 2010 that killed 8 folks and destroyed 37 houses in a San Mateo County.

Jacobson acknowledged the battery storage business must do a greater job explaining to the general public the protection methods in its amenities and the way they work. However all types of power storage and technology have threat, he stated. The scenario is just like battery fires in electrical automobiles which occur a lot much less steadily than gasoline fires. In truth, gasoline fires are so widespread the media seldom report them whereas they cowl battery fires excessively.

There may be one other consideration right here. Battery chemistries used for battery storage are altering. We’re speculating that the Part I portion of the Vistra facility at Moss Touchdown used NMC lithium-ion batteries, that are rather more prone to fires than the LFP lithium-ion batteries that are actually the usual for battery storage. New applied sciences reminiscent of sodium ion are coming out there and will probably be even much less more likely to catch fireplace than LFP batteries. The battery storage business must do a significantly better job of explaining such issues to the general public to calm the fears that so usually are related to new applied sciences.