Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church, whose district consists of Moss Touchdown, stated he hopes the proposed guidelines shall be copied by different cities and counties throughout California as dozens of the crops are being constructed yearly, usually close to properties, faculties and companies.
“California is going to need more battery facilities,” Church stated. “But we need to make them safe. They are very volatile. It’s a new technology that’s evolving. What was used five years ago is considered old technology now. Every few years it’s changing. We need to do more to be on top of the safety, health and environmental concerns.”
A hearth on Jan. 16 on the Moss Touchdown Plant — which is owned by Vistra, a Texas-based vitality firm — was the most important battery storage fireplace ever in the USA. It burned for 2 days, incinerating greater than 50,000 lithium ion batteries, and sending a poisonous cloud over Monterey Bay and close by communities. Authorities evacuated 1,200 native residents, lots of whom complained of complications, respiration issues and different points afterward. The incident raised questions in regards to the security of battery storage services which are being proposed and constructed throughout California and different states.
On Tuesday, the Monterey supervisors will contemplate a proposal from Church to direct the county employees to draft a moratorium and return to the board for a closing vote inside one month.
If the board passes the moratorium then, Church stated, the county employees would take 1 to 2 years to draft detailed new laws affecting such points as the place the crops will be constructed, fireplace security, emergency administration insurance policies, and cleanup guidelines after fires happen.
A couple of different counties in California have handed related measures.
Final 12 months, Solano County, within the North Bay, accredited a moratorium in new battery storage crops after native residents raised security issues on new crops proposed to be constructed there. In August, Solano county supervisors lifted it, however put in place new guidelines permitting the services to be constructed solely on land zoned for industrial or manufacturing makes use of, relatively than agriculture, residential or different makes use of.
Orange County officers enacted an emergency moratorium on new large-scale battery storage services in February, following the Moss Touchdown fireplace, whereas county officers there work with fireplace departments to draft new native laws.
On Monday, renewable vitality trade teams say they oppose native moratoriums.
“Blanket bans on any source of clean power are the wrong approach for California at a time when electricity demand is rising,” stated Molly Croll, senior coverage director for the American Clear Energy Affiliation’s California workplace.
As a substitute, she famous, the Governor’s Workplace of Enterprise and Financial Growth, a state company that promotes financial progress, is engaged on mannequin ordinances for cities and counties referring to battery storage websites.
California has seen a large enhance within the progress of battery storage crops lately, going from 17 in 2019 to 187 at this time. Many extra are deliberate throughout the Bay Space, within the Central Valley and Southern California.
The crops retailer electrical energy similar to batteries in cell telephones, laptops, or electrical automobiles.
They basically permit renewable vitality to energy the state 24 hours a day, making it a viable different to fossil fuels like pure fuel and coal. The crops are wanted to retailer electrical energy generated by giant photo voltaic and wind farms to launch it again on the ability grid at evening when the solar isn’t shining, or the wind isn’t blowing. California lawmakers have set a purpose of California producing 100% of its electrical energy from renewable and carbon-free sources by 2045 to fulfill the state’s local weather change and air air pollution objectives.
Group advocates close to the Moss Touchdown plant stated Monday they assist a moratorium in Monterey County.
“We support renewable energy. Our concern has been with the volatility and danger of the lithium-ion technology that is used to store the energy,” stated Brian Roeder, co-founder of By no means Once more Moss Touchdown, a group group.
“Once these things catch fire the emissions are incredibly harmful to living creatures,” he added. “It’s a long-term impact that can lead to chronic illness.”
The difficulty was debated all 12 months within the state Legislature. Renewable vitality corporations and labor unions strongly opposed a invoice by Assemblywoman Daybreak Addis, D-San Luis Obispo, which might have prohibited building of recent battery storage crops inside 3,200-feet of properties, faculties, hospitals, parks and prime agricultural land.
That invoice, AB 303, additionally would have reversed a state regulation handed two years in the past that offers the a state company, the California Vitality Fee, the authority to overrule native cities and counties and approve giant battery storage crops of 200 megawatts or extra. It did not get even a listening to within the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
That new regulation, Croll stated, together with the state’s upcoming mannequin ordinances, “will allow California to keep its grid reliable while keeping communities safe.”
