The fireplace, which was raging uncontrolled Thursday night time, sending up big flames and clouds of hazardous black smoke, was reported round 3 p.m. on the plant, situated on Freeway 1, Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli stated.
“An evacuation order is not a suggestion,” Pasculli instructed KSBW TV at 7:30 pm. “It’s really important that people do comply with that order for their safety. The county and all our partners are throwing every resource behind this incident that we have. People need to remain calm in this situation and everybody will get through it.”
Evacuations of about 1,500 individuals have been ordered for areas of Moss Touchdown south of Elkhorn Slough, north of Molera Street and Monterey Dunes Approach, and west of Castroville Boulevard and Elkhorn Street to the ocean, he stated.
Pasculli stated that the Monterey County Sheriff’s Division has referred to as different companies within the county to assist with the emergency.
The ability, owned by Vistra Vitality, a Texas firm, is without doubt one of the largest battery storage vegetation on this planet. It holds tens of hundreds of lithium batteries, that are used to retailer electrical energy from solar energy and different sources generated throughout the day to be used at night time. Such battery storage vegetation are a key a part of California’s efforts to shift most of its electrical energy era to renewable sources.
The plant is situated on the positioning of a now-shuttered Nineteen Fifties-era PG&E Moss Touchdown pure fuel plant seen for its big smokestacks close to Moss Touchdown Harbor. The primary section was accomplished in 2020, and it was expanded to 750 megawatts in 2023. Vistra sells the electrical energy saved there to PG&E, which additionally owns a separate 182-megawatt battery storage plant on the north facet of the positioning that has 256 Tesla “Megapack” battery packs. That facility didn’t look like burning by 8 p.m.
The ability has been the positioning of different fires earlier than.
Fires broke out on the Vistra plant on Sept. 4, 2021, and Feb 14, 2022. Investigations confirmed that they have been attributable to a malfunction in a fireplace sprinkler system, which launched water and induced a number of of the models to overheat.
Then in September 2022, a fireplace broke out on the PG&E Elkhorn battery plant. Police closed Freeway 1 for 12 hours. An investigation discovered it was attributable to an improperly put in vent defend on one of many 256 models, which allowed rainwater to get in and quick out the batteries. There have been no accidents to firefighters, PG&E workers or the general public.
“Increasing the state’s battery storage is essential to reaching our clean energy goals,” stated State Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who wrote the invoice, in an interview final yr. “But we also have to ensure that these facilities have safety systems in place to protect the health and well-being of workers and surrounding communities.”
Final summer season, after two fires occurred at San Diego County battery storage amenities, San Diego County supervisors required county officers to attract up tighter guidelines that may prohibit battery storage vegetation close to houses, colleges and different amenities. And when Vistra proposed constructing a big battery plant in Morro Bay, residents there authorized a measure on the November poll that they hoped would block its building.
Battery storage has elevated sevenfold up to now 5 years in California, from 1,474 megawatts in 2020 to 10,383 megawatts this previous summer season. A megawatt is sufficient electrical energy to run 750 houses.
Thursday night time, the Castroville Recreation Heart, situated at 11261 Crane St., was serving as a brief evacuation level for individuals pressured to go away their houses.
Street closures are additionally in place at Dolan Street and Castroville Boulevard, Freeway 1 at Salinas Street and Freeway 1 at Merritt Road, in line with the sheriff’s workplace.
This can be a growing story. Test again for updates.
Initially Printed: January 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM PST
