As a major fire was abating near San Jose, Calif., that ravaged one of the world’s largest battery energy storage facilities, investigators have begun an onsite probe of the cause. The blaze that began Jan. 16 destroyed most of a 300-MW lithium-ion battery array at Vistra Energy’s 750-MW Moss Landing storage site at a decommissioned gas power plant. 

“There are still no active flames, while a limited amount of smoldering is continuing to abate,” Vistra said in a statement posted to an incident website. Separately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement saying the air around the plant is safe. 

Vistra has hired a structural engineering firm, unidentified at story posting time, to guide the effort to remove remaining batteries when conditions allow and has retained other “outside experts” related to the investigation, says a spokesperson. LG Chem, the battery manufacturer, is on-site, and information is being shared.

At a Jan. 21 meeting, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to approve an emergency declaration and to urge that Moss Landing remain offline while the fire is investigated. “We are calling for nothing less than a full commitment … until the situation is fully safe,” County Supervisor Glenn Church said prior to the meeting.

”We’ve committed to work closely with our community partners and local
officials to determine how best we can help, and we’ll have more
information to share on this in the coming days,”  another Vistra spokesperson told the board.

‘Preparedness’

County emergency response officials declared the fire a major operations incident and a local disaster that required closing nearby Highway 1 and one-day evacuations.

A county fire chief, Joel Mendoza, said on Jan. 17 that a fire suppression system housed in one of the facility’s battery racks had failed, allowing the fire to spread. 

No damage cost estimate was provided.

“The incident shows more effort in preparedness is needed as well as “containment and ensuring that fires do not spread,” says Dustin Mulvaney, an environmental studies professor at San Jose State University and expert on lithium-ion batteries who monitors California’s fast-growing energy storage sector. “This industry needs to do more work on emergency response plans,” which are mandated in California, he adds. “Most other states do not require emergency response plans, so other states might want to consider them.”

But Mulvaney believes the fire “will have little to no impact on battery energy storage development in California,” which he says aims to have 52 GW of battery storage in place in 20 years, up from today’s level of 13.4 GW, of which 85% is utility-scale storage.

“This fire event may cause some proposed projects to redesign batteries housed in buildings,” as some are at Moss Landing, Mulvaney says, “but it will not slow the deployment trajectory.”

Operated by Iriving, Texas-based Vistra, the facility stores surplus energy generated from renewable sources and releases it during periods of high demand. 

Expansions

Moss Landing has undergone two expansions since its original 300-MW development was completed in 2020, the area where the fire occurred and was confined to. Past safety incidents include several battery melting events in 2022. with suppression preventing a fire.

In a 2024 report, ENR noted completion of the battery site’s third expansion that added 350 MW of capacity. Everyone on the site was given stop-work authority, says the report, and design-builder Burns & McDonnell worked closely with local fire officials and educated employees on thermal runaway risks and fire prevention responses.

It could not be determined at ENR posting time if the firm is assisting with the fire investigation.

The American Clean Power Association last year released a model ordinance for states and municipalities in regulating energy storage system safety, permitting, siting, environmental compliance and decommissioning. 

Despite the event, long term global battery storage market growth is expected to be strong, although impacts in the U.S. from tariffs and other Trump administration rumored trade measures remain unclear.