Days before President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office and took actions to stall the transition to clean energy, a disaster unfolded on the other side of the country that may have an outsize effect on the pace of the transition.
A fire broke out last Thursday at the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California, one of the largest battery energy storage systems in the world. The fire raged through the weekend, forcing local officials to evacuate nearby homes and close roads.
Battery storage is an essential part of the transition away from fossil fuels. It works in tandem with solar and wind power to provide electricity during periods when the renewable resources aren’t available. But lithium-ion batteries, the most common technology used in storage systems, are flammable. And if they catch fire, it can be difficult to extinguish.
Last week’s fire is the latest and largest of several at the Moss Landing site in recent years, and I expect that it will become the main example opponents of carbon-free electricity use to try to stop battery development in other places.
The fact that it didn’t burst into flames while every building did means that the battery plants are resilient enough for anywhere else.
Is it the same fire?
Yeah. And I mean, yesterday we removed our Christmas tree sacrifice and I put it in our wood burning chimney. PNW. Dude, that pine tree was so dry that it burst into flames immediately. I freaked out for a sec. So if you got a battery plant and it’s in the middle of a big ass fire and it doesn’t burn on the first 24hrs, that means you did something good.