The first phase of the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility, Vistra Energy’s “flagship” California storage system, went up in flames Thursday afternoon, shutting down Highway 1, evacuating more than 1,500 people, and closing local schools and businesses.
Moss Landing, located about 77 miles south of San Francisco, houses tens of thousands of lithium batteries produced by LG Energy Solution Ltd.
#BREAKING: Evacuation orders have been issued after a lithium battery plant caught fire releasing hazardous toxins into the air⁰⁰ #MossLanding | #Californa ⁰⁰Currently, numerous emergency crews are on the scene of a massive fire broke out at the Moss Landing Power Plant's… pic.twitter.com/MMcpY0yka1
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 17, 2025
Texas-based Vistra celebrated an expansion of the battery power plant in August 2023, which has a 15-year resource adequacy agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). Phase III pushed the project’s total capacity to 75 MW/3,000 MWh, making it the largest battery energy storage system (BESS) in the world at the time. It is now believed to be the second-largest, trailing only the Edwards & Sanborn Solar Plus Storage Project in Kern County, CA, which reached commercial operations just under one year ago.
A call for assistance went out from Vistra personnel shortly after 3 o’clock PT on January 16. The property was promptly evacuated, and all employees and fire personnel have since been confirmed safe, per the County of Monterey. The Sheriff’s Office instructed people living nearby to leave the area, and those indoors were told to close windows and doors and shut off air systems until further notice.
There's an ongoing fire at the Vistra Power Plant Moss Landing. Heat signature can be seen in satellite imagery. https://t.co/9HOW56poM7 #CAwx pic.twitter.com/sH3vGbZcVR
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) January 17, 2025
North Monterey County Fire District personnel rushed to Moss Landing, where they proceeded to do exactly what they were supposed to do- secure the scene, stand back, and watch.
It’s now considered best practice to let lithium battery fires exhaust themselves, which meant the plant burned well into the night. According to Monterey County spokesperson Nicholas Pasculli, by Friday morning there was “some containment” of the fire, which was still burning but had not escaped its concrete enclosure. All three phases of Vistra’s project are housed in separate enclosures.
“The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but an investigation will begin once the fire is extinguished,” said a Vistra spokesperson in a statement.
The County of Monterey Board of Supervisors is meeting this morning to discuss next steps.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat it. This is a disaster, is what it is,” Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSBW-TV.
A disaster that might sound a little familiar…
Something similar has happened before
Thursday’s fire was detected in the 300 MW Phase I of the plant, according to Vistra.
That’s the same spot where a software programming error caused a heat suppression system to activate and douse three 100 MW racks of batteries in September 2021. Fire crews were called, but Vistra ultimately determined there was no fire, nor did the incident cause any harm to outside systems or any personnel.
The facility uses a heat suppression system that protects against thermal runaway in individual battery modules. If a battery gets too hot, or the system’s Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA) senses smoke, water is quickly injected into the affected zone.
“Due to an apparent programming error in the VESDA, these actions occurred at detected smoke levels below the specified design level at which water was intended to be released and E-Stop was intended to be initiated,” concluded Vistra in a two-page report.
The snafu knocked the facility out of commission for months while Vistra investigated and implemented corrective actions, including pressure testing and modifying connectors in the facility’s water-based heat suppression system, repairing leaks, and installing an air supervision system to monitor for future problems. Smoke detectors also were installed in all air handling units and gaps in the facility’s upper floor were sealed.
A second, nearly identical incident involving the early detection safety system occurred in February 2022 in the 100 MW Phase II building next door. A resulting investigation concluded water leaked from a few bad couplings in the building’s fire impression system, which caused some batteries to short circuit and fill the facility with smoke.
Vistra said that at the time water was first released by the heat suppression system, all battery module temperatures were recorded as “within established temperature limits.” The investigation found that the batteries “were not the initial source of smoke or a cause of the incident.”
Officials demanding transparency
California politicians are already questioning the safety of the Vistra facility and the safety of lithium-based battery energy storage overall.
“I am deeply concerned and have serious questions about the safety of this battery energy storage plant. I will be looking for transparency and accountability for why this happened again at Moss Landing,” said Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay). “I am exploring all options for preventing future battery energy storage fires from ever occurring again on the Central Coast.”
“Clean energy facilities have a responsibility to be operated safely and to protect the surrounding communities,” added U.S Representative Jimmy Panetta. “I urge this battery facility to be transparent and cooperate with authorities to address this emergency situation swiftly.”
Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this article. Originally published in Renewable Energy World.
