MOSS LANDING – Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church and State Assemblymember Dawn Addis are calling for the Vistra Moss Landing Battery Energy Storage facility in Moss Landing to stay offline until officials can explain what caused the fire that started Thursday and be able to guarantee the public that the plant is safe.
“We cannot see another battery energy storage fire,” Addis said in a press conference Friday afternoon. “This can’t happen again.
Earlier in the day, Church called for a “full independent investigation at all levels on what exactly happened.”
A Vistra representative responded later Friday afternoon saying that determining when the plant goes back online will be a “collaboration” and the company would be following regulations and informing the public.
The fire appeared to flare up again Friday afternoon but Addis and Church said they had been briefed that the fire would flare up as additional batteries within the structure where the fire is ignite.
The fire resulted in an evacuation affecting about 1,200 people and the closure of Highway 1 in both directions, among other roadways. Evacuation orders were lifted late Friday.
“There needs to be some accountability,” Church said in the Friday morning press conference, noting this was the fourth fire in five years at Moss Landing battery facilities.
The fire at one of the world’s largest Battery Energy Storage Systems was in a building housing 300 lithium-ion batteries, of which an unknown number burned and continue to burn. The hazardous materials within smoke plumes from lithium-ion batteries include hydrogen fluoride, a colorless gas that can cause severe damage to the body.
North County Fire Protection District Chief Joel Mendoza said a fire-suppression system in a battery rack failed to contain the fire. The fire was most intense Thursday night, he said, and by Friday morning it had mostly gone out. But the plume remained a concern and was being monitored by both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and CTEH, a Vistra outside consultant.
Mendoza reported that the preliminary information from monitoring the plume showed no hazardous hydrogen fluoride was detected.
Friday afternoon, flames could once again be seen coming from the plant and the plume had grown exponentially.
Friday morning Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said evacuation orders would still be in effect and was waiting for the advanced air-monitoring systems report, to “err on the side of caution so nobody is hurt,” before the county and the Sheriff’s Department lifted the evacuation orders
Pete Ziegler, regional vice president who oversees the Moss Landing power plant and energy storage facility, said that monitoring started immediately after the fire began.
He acknowledged the system failure, but added, “We don’t know what started this event yet.”
Church labeled the fire a “worst-case scenario of a disaster here,” and added that it is a “wake-up call for this industry.”
The fire at the Vistra Power Plant began about 3 p.m. Thursday and there have been no injuries or fatalities reported from the event.
Vistra and Pacific Gas and Electric/Tesla operate battery energy storage facilities at the Moss Landing power plant.
The Moss Landing power plant site has been producing energy by various means since 1950. It has the infrastructure and zoned land that makes it a prime location for battery energy storage systems. The energy storage facilities exist there after going through the public process and were approved by commissions and boards before construction and operation.
Vistra had incidents that occurred at its battery energy storage system Sept. 4, 2021 and Feb. 13, 2022. Pacific Gas and Electric/Tesla, also known as Elkhorn Battery Energy Storage System, had an incident Sept. 20, 2022.
Both Vistra incidents at its Moss Landing facility in 2021 and 2022 were caused by water leaks from its mitigation system. This led to grounding, arcing and localized smoke. Both events were contained to the site and did not impact air, water, soil, or nearby communities.
Legislation that was created in response to fire breaking out in 2022 at the Elkhorn Battery Energy Storage System facility at Moss Landing was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, 2023.
Senate Bill 38, authored by State Senator John Laird, D-Santa Cruz and co-authored by Assemblymember Dawn Adddis, D-Morro Bay, requires battery storage facilities to establish safety and communication protocols.
“If renewable energy is going to be the future, it really needs to rest on safe energy,” said Church.
Herald reporter Kyarra Harris contributed to this report. 