Upgrades better than Moss Landing is not good enough (“Despite enhanced safety features, Nipomo residents are concerned about Caballero battery facility,” Feb. 20). If the Nipomo battery energy storage facility needed upgrades, it was not perfect, and safety is still an issue. Can we do better? Can we even trust that the safety measures and standards are absolutely failsafe? If an abundance of caution was the guiding force, which it should be, then two accidents in our backyard should tell us and send a clear warning we really don’t know what the frick we are doing. Is this good enough until next time? Really, what are we thinking?
Are we worried about all the money invested in this venture with the hope everything will be OK? Is that the decision-making criteria? Save money. People don’t count? Unless it can be absolutely guaranteed nothing is going wrong, this needs to get deep-sixed right now. Did Moss Landing get a thumbs up after the last disaster and promised everything is perfect now? Don’t worry. Trust us. Are we collateral damage material? Do we trust this in our backyard? Why should we?
Who is making these decisions? Same people who say dumping PFAS chemicals into our groundwater is OK? Same brain trust that says putting a decrepit accident-prone, fault-infested nuke site on life support is fine, just fine? Same people who invite convicted felons with a history of routinely depositing a thick blanket of suffocating greasy, grimy, slime into our sacred precious ocean is OK? Well, you know what? I need proof beyond a reasonable doubt that this endeavor is baby-proofed. Can they do that? Prove it.
Jean’ne Blackwell
SLO
This article appears in Weddings 2025.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Assessing the logistics, Diablo has containment domes with 4 fan coolers and 2 spray rings from containment spray pumps. In contrast it would be futile to dome the BESS containers unless they are pressure vented with smoke scrubbers. You definitely couldn’t spray water, but maybe potassium nitrate to lower dome pressure. I tend to break down risk by evaluating and comparing quantities. Caballero has 68 Megapack size containers weighing 60,000 lbs each. Add to that 34 inverters and a 400,000 lb step-up transformer you’re looking at 4.5 million lbs of flammable/Hazmat materials. Just across the fence at Mesa Sub you’re got two 420MVA transmission transformers weighing ~600,000 lbs each and a 45MVA distribution transformer weighing ~300,000 lbs. Negating two 115kV Capacitor Banks at Mesa because capacitors primarily fail as open circuit rather than shorting, you’re totalling the 3 mentioned transformers at 1.5 million lbs of flammable mineral oil (Shell Diala) and copper windings. So, essentially there’s three times as much flammable material at Caballero versus Mesa Sub. But, Mesa transformer fire(s) can be cooled and extinguished in ~12 hours versus Caballero batteries that could burn for 2+ days. Another analogy would be comparing 4.5 million lbs of Caballero batteries to the same weight equating to 200,000 tires. Here again you could probably put out the tire fire in less than half the time as the lithium batteries, but both would leave nasty residue. Would the Planning Commissioners be Ok with locating a 200,000 tires in 68 containers next to the most important Substation for northern Santa Barbara CA county and Nipomo? Something like this assessment should have been portrayed in a mandated Environment Impact Report. But Nipomo got a Negative CEQA declaration from a BESS subcontractor. The predicament graduated from a missed opportunity to an error precursor the moment the Planning Commissioners approved Caballero in June 2023. The abbreviated review gamed the poor interventions that were basically reliant on non-existent electric skillsets of the bureaucrats that were charged with informing and protecting the community.