In the wake of a spate of fires at battery storage facilities across the state, the California Public Utilities Commission will soon vote on establishing new standards for maintaining and operating them.
If passed, the proposal also increases oversight for emergency response at energy storage sites that use batteries.
The announcement comes shortly after a dramatic fire broke out Jan. 16 at a 750-megawatt battery plant in Moss Landing that led to the evacuation of 1,200 residents. The blaze burned for two days and closed a section of Highway 1 for three days.
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Emergency crews and the plant’s owner, Texas-based Vistra Energy, are looking into what caused the batteries to ignite. Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for an investigation.
The vote to bolster safety and oversight of battery facilities is scheduled to go before the five members of the utilities commission, known as the CPUC, on March 13.
If approved by a majority of commissioners, the proposal would update an already existing CPUC order that enforces standards for electric generating facilities to include battery energy systems, plus incorporate new guidelines for battery plants through legislation that was recently passed in Sacramento.
Among other things, the proposal also makes explicit that the CPUC requires owners of battery facilities to develop emergency response and emergency action plans in the event of fires or other incidents.
Battery storage facilities are considered a vital piece of California’s target to derive 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045 or earlier.
Commonly stacked in rows within enclosures, batteries take electricity that’s generated during the daytime hours from solar, store that energy and send it to the electric grid in the evening.
Electricity from batteries — which emit no greenhouse gases — can offset power that would otherwise be supplied by fossil fuel generation such as natural gas, while also enhancing grid reliability during those hours.
Battery installations have grown rapidly in recent years across California. The state deployed just 500 megawatts of battery power in 2019, but last year the number jumped to 13,300 megawatts.
For perspective, the only nuclear power plant in California, Diablo Canyon, generates 2,240 megawatts of electricity.
By 2045, California projects about 52,000 megawatts of capacity from battery storage.
But a series of fires across the state have raised questions about battery facilities and led some residents to speak out against building new projects in their neighborhoods and communities.
Battery fires can be difficult to put out. The lithium in most battery systems can experience “thermal runaway” — a condition in which the batteries overheat, ignite and spread from one battery to another.
In the San Diego area, the most recent fire occurred Sept. 5 in Escondido at San Diego Gas & Electric’s 30-megawatt, 120-megawatt-hours facility. That led to the temporary evacuation of about 500 nearby businesses. Crews from the city of Escondido found no abnormal readings indicating toxic fumes and air-quality monitoring did not indicate any health risks.
Last May, a fire broke out in Otay Mesa at the 250-megawatt Gateway Energy Storage facility, operated by LS Power and its subsidiary, Rev Renewables. Fire officials said the batteries kept re-igniting and it took nearly 17 days before the last fire-fighting and air monitoring crews left the facility.
The Moss Landing battery facility, located in Monterey County, is billed as the largest of its kind in the world. The fire that broke out earlier this month is the third to occur at the Vistra site since 2021.
Officials at the CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division visited the Vistra battery facility on Jan. 22 and are conducting an investigation into the fire.
