Rob Nikolewski
The San Diego Union-Tribune
(TNS)
Though details still need to be hammered out, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors passed a measure Wednesday aimed at bolstering safety regulations for future battery energy storage facilities in the county.
Coming on the heels of a string of recent battery fires in the region, the measure will affect future energy storage projects and 10 that are already in the county’s pipeline, including one that a private company wants to build between Escondido and San Marcos that has generated controversy.
Battery Facilities Aim to Shore Up CA Power Grid, Though Fire and Safety Risks Remain
The still-to-be adopted regulations will be based on a technical study the county fire department is about to complete in coordination with a battery storage consultant.
“The big thing that was passed today was to complete the technical study that will look at fire-related issues with (battery energy storage) facilities that will then allow us to put additional guidelines in place for these facilities,” San Diego County Fire Chief Tony Mecham said.
The technical report is expected to be completed next month and county fire officials will then work with seven other independent fire districts in unincorporated areas of San Diego County to come up with one uniform safety standard for battery projects.
“We all want to move forward together,” Mecham said,” because we don’t want one standard in Alpine, another in Lakeside and another in County Fire.”
Among the regulations to be hashed out: buffer zones to protect residential areas in the event of a fire breaking out.
Per Wednesday’s action, a plan will come before the county Board of Supervisors by Dec. 11.
The measure passed 4-1, with District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond casting the dissenting vote. Desmond approved the stipulations in the measure but wanted to add an additional safety precaution — a moratorium to prohibit the battery storage operations in facilities that don’t have isolated containers.
On May 15, a fire broke out at the Gateway Energy Storage facility in an industrial park in Otay Mesa. The batteries that ignited at Gateway were stored in a warehouse.
“The warehouse burned for 17 days and I can’t believe that didn’t put a lot of toxic smoke” into the air, Desmond said.
Going into Wednesday’s meeting, a spate of fires has turned up the volume in the debate about battery facilities.
Some county residents worry about potential fires forcing them to evacuate from their neighborhoods, while energy companies and environmental groups say adding extra layers of regulation will strain the electric grid and take away a key tool toward meeting state and local climate action targets.
Both sides appeared optimistic about what the county and fire officials will eventually adopt.
“The board action goes to the heart of the issue, which is these facilities are too close to homes, schools and hospitals,” said Joe Rowley, a retired engineer who opposes the Seguro Battery Energy Storage Project that Fortune 500 company AES wants to build in Eden Valley. “This study will tell us how far these facilities must be from those sensitive areas and that’s a very positive development.”
AES officials, meanwhile, vowed the company “will meet or exceed all required safety standards” that are enacted.
“The Board of Supervisors made the right decision today,” Corinne Lytle Bonine, AES permitting director for the Seguro project, said in an email. “The decision showed that we don’t have to choose between safe neighborhoods and clean air. We can have both.”
AES wants to build the Seguro project on a 22.5-acre plot between San Marcos and Escondido. The company considers the site an excellent location because it’s close to an existing San Diego Gas & Electric substation, so it can feed into the state’s power system without requiring miles of overhead transmission lines.
If approved, the facility would generate 320 megawatts and 1,280 megawatt-hours of electricity that would flow to California’s electric grid — enough to power about 240,000 homes for four hours.
Three fires at battery storage facilities in the San Diego area have broken out in the past year.
Last week, a fire at SDG&E’s 30-megawatt, 120-megawatt-hours facility in Escondido led to the evacuation of about 500 businesses. Classes were canceled for one day at nearby schools “out of an abundance of caution,” the Escondido Union School District said.
Crews from the city of Escondido and SDG&E said the fire was centered in one of the 24 battery storage containers at the site. Extinguishing battery fires can be tricky and officials decided to let the fire burn itself out while protecting the containers around it.
Crews found no abnormal readings indicating toxic fumes and air-quality monitoring did not indicate any health risks.
The 250-megawatt Gateway Energy Storage facility, site of the May 15 fire, is operated by LS Power and its subsidiary, Rev Renewables. Opened in 2020, the facility stores dozens of racks of lithium-ion batteries that help bolster the state’s electric grid.
Fire officials said the batteries experienced “thermal runaway” — a condition in which excessive heat results in a chemical reaction that spreads to other batteries — and evacuation orders and warnings were put into effect for nearby businesses.
In September 2023, a fire ignited at the Valley Center Energy Storage Facility, operated by renewable energy company Terra-Gen.
While fire officials said the blaze was extinguished by the site’s internal fire prevention system in about 45 minutes, businesses and the small number of homes within a quarter-mile of the industrial park where the facility is located were evacuated and shelter-in-place orders were in effect within a half-mile of the site as a precautionary measure.
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The 139-megawatt, 560-megawatt-hour Valley Center facility was back in operation the next day.
Battery storage is considered a crucial piece in California’s policy goal of deriving 100 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045, if not sooner.
Storage systems take solar power generated during the day and discharge the electricity later, especially from 4 to 9 p.m. when California’s grid is under the most stress. Batteries can help reduce the risk of rotating power outages and replace natural gas “peaker plants” used during those critical hours when customers crank up their air conditioners.
Five years ago, the state counted a mere 770 megawatts of battery storage available to the California Independent System Operator, which manages the grid for 80 percent of the state and a small part of Nevada. By the end of this year, 10,379 megawatts are expected to be online and the state aims to grow that number to 52,000 megawatts by 2045.
Jim Whalen, president of J. Whalen Associates, a consulting firm in San Diego involved in battery storage projects in the San Diego area, said the board “chose the wise middle ground” with its vote.
“This is the takeaway: The fire code trumps land use approvals,” Whalen said.
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