A Vistra-owned battery plant caught fire in Monterey County on Jan. 16, shutting down Highway 1 and causing mandatory evacuations in the area. The company is hoping to build a similar facility in Morro Bay.
Vistra’s Moss Landing Battery Plant was completed in August 2023, and the Texas-owned energy company named the 750-megawatt facility “the largest of its kind in the world,” at the time.
The company has plans to put more megawatts in Morro Bay with its pending application for a 600-megawatt facility along the Embarcadero. With the recent fire, Morro Bay city officials expressed concern about the potential hazards.
Mayor Carla Wixom told New Times that the fire at Moss Landing reflects long-standing fears expressed by local residents since Vistra’s battery plant was proposed along its coastline.
“I think the Moss Landing situation right now is extremely unfortunate but sheds light on exactly what we feared could and would happen,” she said.
North Monterey County Fire Protection District was notified about the Moss Landing fire at 3 p.m. on Jan. 16, according to Fire Chief Joel Mendoza. Within the next hour, conditions had drastically worsened as the facility’s fire suppression system was “overridden” and didn’t work, Mendoza said at a briefing the next morning.
After more than 1,200 people were evacuated from the area, Mendoza said, the team of 34 firefighters were “spread thin” with such an intense blaze, but by that next morning the fire was nearly out with no reported injuries related to the incident.
The fire was the “worst case scenario that’s happened here,” Monterey County 2nd District Supervisor Glenn Church said at the press conference. He added that no one had predicted this would happen.
“This is really a lot more than a fire, it’s really a wakeup call for this industry, and if we’re going to be moving ahead with sustainable energy we need to have safe battery systems in place,” he said.
The fire flared up again after the press conference and wasn’t declared completely out until Jan. 20.
This is the third fire to erupt at this Vistra location since 2021, according to ABC7 News reporting, but the fire suppression system had worked in the past to keep fires from erupting.
“There must be accountability with this, and there will be accountability,” Church said.
Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) told New Times that she had been excused from the legislative session and driven to Monterey County when she heard about the incident.
“One of the things that we are looking for right now is transparency, accountability, and prevention, and so we are gathering information every minute as it comes out,” she said on Jan. 17. “One of the things about these fires is this one was burning so hot that you can’t go near it. And then with lithium, you do not put water on them, it makes it more dangerous.”
When it comes to the potential battery plant at Morro Bay, Addis said it needs to be approached differently than past plants. She didn’t specify what that new approach might be. In a statement her office issued on Jan. 20, Addis called for the Moss Landing facility to shut down until new safety measures could be guaranteed and urged Vistra to end its plans for a new facility in Morro Bay.
Vistra Communications Senior Director Meranda Cohn told New Times via email that the company’s current project in Morro Bay has been paused, and the company will conduct a formal investigation into the Moss Landing event.
Addis told New Times that safety is of the “utmost importance”
“Unless we can guarantee safety of our communities, we’re going to need to think about this differently,” she said. “And certainly, our office is entirely focused on the safety and welfare of the community, whether it’s here in Moss Landing, in Morro Bay, or anywhere else across the Central Coast, and so our focus will wholly be on safety right now.”
According to a Jan. 17 statement from Morro Bay, city officials were following the Moss Landing fire closely “since Vistra also owns the former power plant property in Morro Bay and has proposed a similar battery energy storage system (BESS) project in our city, this situation is particularly relevant to us.”
Mayor Wixom told New Times that the city’s previous four years of conflict reflects residents’ concerns over the potential facility, including the city’s recently passed ballot measure A-24 that removed the City Council’s jurisdiction over the parcel of land on which Vistra hopes to build the battery plant.
A-24’s passage showed that “there’s a desire for that area to no longer be industrialized, but to be … visitor-serving, fishing-related activities and things at that end of town,” she said.
Other efforts include the city’s decision to create an ordinance that would block future battery plant builds and enable the city to implement battery plant regulation into its zoning laws. Vistra paused its application with the city in hopes of receiving state approval for the build under AB 205, but Wixom said that establishing an ordinance would at least allow the city more of a say when it comes to future proposals.
“I don’t believe that our community, by any means, is not supportive of alternative energy options. … It’s not about a ban for battery storage,” Wixom said. “It’s about areas of siting so that you don’t run into situations like in Moss Landing where, you know, you’re in a populated area, or you only have one way in and out of the area. Those are the things that are concerning to any community.”
Her concern lies with Vistra’s proposed location near the single road to and from Morro Rock, she said, and that road being the only way out for tourists and community members enjoying the area’s natural resources.
“Having an estuary with endangered and protected species and a bird sanctuary that’s been enjoyed by thousands of people,” Wixom said. “All those things that have been factors that have been concerning us as residents and for us as decision-makers. This doesn’t feel like it’s going to be a safe situation if there’s only one way in and out of town.”
City Councilmember Zara Landrum said that it “seems like a risk that shouldn’t be taken.”
“I think it would be very devastating to not only to the city of Morro Bay, but the county as well to have this happen here,” Landrum said. Δ
Reach Staff Writer Libbey Hanson at lhanson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 23 – Feb 2, 2025.