A significant fire incident took place at the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in Central California on Thursday. This facility is recognized as the largest battery power plant in the world, owned by Vistra.
In response to the fire, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for nearby residents and closed sections of Highway 1. Additionally, County Health officials have advised residents to shelter indoors, keeping windows and doors shut, and to turn off any ventilation systems.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat it. This is a disaster, is what it is,” stated Monterey County Supervisor Glen Church to KSBW-TV.
Following the extinguishing of the fire, the company plans to investigate its cause, as confirmed by Vistra spokesperson Jenny Lyon in an interview with The Mercury News. Vistra had recently completed an expansion of the facility in 2023, adding over 110,000 battery modules needed for renewable energy storage. Such energy storage facilities are crucial for power grids, ensuring that excess solar and wind energy is available during non-peak hours.
This incident is not the first battery fire in the vicinity. A Pacific Gas & Electric battery plant, stocked with Tesla batteries, caught fire in 2022. Furthermore, the previous year, Vistra had to temporarily shut down its Moss Landing battery plant after a malfunctioning smoke detector and heat-suppression system doused the batteries with water, as reported by Canary Media.
The current blaze is unrelated to the wildfires occurring further south, which have caused devastation in Los Angeles County.
