In the wake of the fire earlier this month at Vistra Corporation’s Moss Landing Power Plant and Energy Storage Facility, the California Public Utilities Commission has proposed new standards for battery energy storage facilities.

In a statement on Tuesday, the CPUC also said it deployed its Safety and Enforcement Division to the Moss Landing site last Wednesday to investigate the fire, which sparked on Jan. 16 and lasted several days, prompting evacuations and air quality concerns.

At issue is the adequacy and enforcement of a 2024 state law that requires facility owners and operators to create emergency response action plans in concert with local agencies.

If the commission votes to approve the proposal at its March 13 meeting, it will set new standards for the maintenance and operation of battery facilities and increase oversight over emergency response action plans, according to the CPUC.

A key component of a green future

Battery energy storage systems are composed of hundreds of lithium-ion batteries stacked on racks in cargo containers and placed in neat arrays in a fenced-in area. Wind and solar systems generate electricity all day long. But when the sun sets and the wind settles, these battery storage units keep the power flowing while people cook dinner and run dishwashers.

The facilities are a vital component of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push for California to derive 100 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045.

Over the past several years, the deployment of battery storage systems has grown significantly.

An explanation of how Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) work and why they are needed. (saVRee/YouTube)

According to the CPUC, California’s current battery storage capacity is over 20% of its peak demand. The power capacity of battery storage systems has increased from 500 megawatts in 2019 to over 13,300 megawatts statewide in 2024.

The state’s projected need for battery storage capacity is estimated at 52,000 megawatts by 2045. In 2024 alone, the state brought more than 7,000 megawatts online — the largest amount in a single year in California’s history.

In 2024, the Solano County Board of Supervisors placed a moratorium on a permit request by Corby Energy, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, for a new BESS near the PG&E Vacaville-Dixon substation. It was done in response to public outcry after a 2023 fire at the Valley Center Energy Storage Facility in San Diego County. According to Solano County spokesperson Matthew Davis, that moratorium is still in effect.

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.