Fire rages at world’s largest battery storage facility in California

A fire has broken out at the world’s largest battery energy storage system in California prompting evacuation orders, in an incident that will fuel fears over the safety of lithium-ion batteries.

The blaze erupted yesterday at the Moss Landing Power Plant, located around 120 kilometres south of San Francisco and owned by Texas company Vistra Energy.

Moss Landing features thousands of lithium-ion batteries that can store up to 3GWh of power, pumping out up to 750MW of electricity at any one time.

Vistra has claimed it is the largest battery energy storage system on Earth. A 750MW expansion completed in 2023 alone featured 122 individual containers together housing more than 110,000 battery modules.

“There’s no way to sugar coat it. This is a disaster, is what it is,” Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church is quoted as telling a local news station.

Local authorities have advised residents that due to the “ongoing large fire” in Moss Landing residents should “stay indoors, keep windows and doors closed, limit outdoor exposure, and turn off ventilation systems.”

“The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but an investigation will begin once the fire is extinguished,” a Vistra spokesperson is quoted as telling Politico.

Last year, a fire at another California lithium-ion battery energy storage facility burned for around a week, also prompting evacuation orders.

Lithium-ion battery fires are rare but have blackened the image of a clean energy technology essential to the energy transition.

Such fires are difficult to put out because lithium-ion battery fires generate their own oxygen. So while water-based fire extinguishers help cool down blazing batteries they only rarely put out fires entirely, as demonstrated by the recent blaze.

Concerns over fires and the toxic gases they can emit are now a frequent source of opposition to lithium-ion energy storage facilities near residential areas.