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The fire started Thursday afternoon and sent up towering flames
and black smoke, and about 1,500 people were instructed to leave
Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area, The Mercury News
reported. It showed no sign of easing by Thursday night.
The Moss Landing Power Plant, located about 77 miles (about 124
kilometers) south of San Francisco, is owned by Texas-company
Vistra Energy and contains tens of thousands of lithium
batteries. The batteries are important for storing electricity
from such renewable energy sources as solar energy, but if they
go up in flames the blazes can be extremely difficult to put
out.
“There’s no way to sugar coat it. This is a disaster, is what it
is,” Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSBW-TV. But
he said he did not expect the fire to spread beyond the concrete
building it was enclosed in.
There were fires at the Vistra plant in 2021 and 2022 that were
caused by a fire sprinkler system malfunction that resulted in
some units overheating, according to The Mercury News.
It was unclear what caused this latest fire. Vistra said in a
statement that after it was detected, everyone at the site was
evacuated safely. After the fire is out, an investigation will
begin.
“Our top priority is the safety of the community and our
personnel, and Vistra deeply appreciates the continued
assistance of our local emergency responders,” Jenny Lyon, a
spokesperson for Vistra, said in a statement.
North Monterey County Unified School District announced that all
schools and offices would be closed Friday due to the fire.
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