The green technology for massive battery banks connected to the grid aren’t ready for prime time. Just look at all the fires caused by electric bicycles and EVs, you dare not park in your garage while charging. The lithium battery technology is great for delivering and taking high current, but that is also what makes them dangerous. If you exceed safe currents with faulty control circuitry they can explode and burn, and if there are manufacturing defects, even if the control circuitry is fine, they can explode and burn (fast charging EVs isn’t good for battery health either). And lets just face it, quality control today is just not very good no matter what you’re looking at, but especially with new vehicles. And these massive batteries for the electrical grid with even higher currents are safe? Apparently not, and the toxic pollution from them failing and burning for days is pretty bad as well. Consequently, this fire killed a project with solar panels and large battery banks they were trying to build up near Casper, Wyoming.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/moss-landing-fire-reignites-20176063.php
By Olivia Hebert
A fire reignited at the Moss Landing Power Plant on Tuesday evening, weeks after a previous blaze forced evacuations in Monterey County.
At 6:30 p.m., the North County Fire Protection District and Monterey County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a report of a fire at the Moss Landing Moss 300 building, Fire Chief Joel Mendoza said during a Wednesday press briefing.
“The first engine arrived on scene, and they were able to find a light bloom of smoke emitting from the building,” Mendoza said. “As we were making notifications to our county cooperators, smoke began to intensify, eventually turning into flames.”
North County firefighters determined that a group of lithium batteries in an area that had previously burned during the Jan. 16 fire had smoldered and reignited. According to Mendoza, the flames burned at varying intensities throughout the night before the fire burned itself out at about 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
Officials urged residents to close their windows and doors in an advisory issued at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. By 8:40 p.m., Monterey County issued an emergency alert, confirming smoke had been detected at the plant.
The Moss Landing Power Plant, located 90 miles south of San Francisco, houses tens of thousands of lithium-ion batteries used to store solar energy. But the facility has a history of safety issues — lithium battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish, and in 2022, two battery failures within five months caused racks to overheat and melt.
Vistra Corp, the Texas-based company that owns and operates the facility, confirmed the fire in an emailed statement to SFGATE, saying company personnel had “notified North County Fire Protection District, which arrived and launched a drone to further investigate.”
By 10 p.m., public safety agencies took unified command due to the smoke. Officials said air quality monitoring was underway, though Vistra maintained that “no hazardous air conditions have been detected.”
Mendoza said multiple agencies remain on site, including North County Fire, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Monterey County Environmental Health, the county’s Department of Emergency Management, the Monterey Bay Air Resources District, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA onsite coordinator Eric Sandusky said officials have been conducting real-time air monitoring, tracking air quality and hydrogen fluoride levels. The Air Quality Index remained below hazardous levels, he said, with only brief one-minute spikes that were not sustained or directed toward the community.
“At this time, we have not seen any indication of adverse health effects to the public,” Sandusky said.
Heavy metal sampling is ongoing, he said, but results take weeks to process. Additional flare-ups at the site are expected due to weather exposure and damage to the remaining batteries.
“Rekindling is very, very likely — almost a certainty,” he said, adding that rain and humidity can interact with the damaged batteries, leading to short circuits and reignition.
To further reduce fire risk, Sandusky said the EPA is working with Vistra to begin “de-linking the batteries,” a process that disconnects them to lower the risk of propagation and prevent a large-scale fire. The process is scheduled to begin Saturday.
Some residents have filed a lawsuit against Vistra and PG&E alleging toxic materials from the January fire contaminated soil and waterways. Environmental advocates argue that lithium battery storage facilities require stronger oversight and safety measures.
However, Vistra maintains that “all battery facilities at the site remain offline” and that “continuous air quality monitoring is ongoing” through permanent monitors placed around the plant’s perimeter and in the surrounding community.
Authorities said updates would be forthcoming as they continue to assess the situation.