Fire at energy storage facility forces evacuations in US California

San Francisco: A fire at an energy storage facility of the Moss Landing Power Plant near Monterey Bay, the US state of California, forced evacuations.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for areas of Moss Landing after a fire broke out at the site earlier Thursday afternoon. County officials opened a temporary evacuation point at the Castroville Recreation Center, Xinhua news agency reported.

Authorities also cautioned residents to close their windows and doors and shut off air systems “out of an abundance of caution,” the sheriff’s office said. Public health officials issued a similar warning in neighbouring Santa Cruz County.

State Route 1 was shut down at Salinas Road and Merrit Street due to the blaze with no estimated reopening time, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A fire was detected in the 300-megawatt energy storage facility on the site Thursday afternoon and all site personnel were evacuated, a spokesperson for Vistra Energy said in a statement.

Vistra Energy, the owner of the facility and the largest competitive power generator in the US, said that the cause of the fire “has not yet been determined.” The company added that an investigation will be launched once the situation is under control.

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“Our top priority is the safety of the community and our personnel, and Vistra deeply appreciates the continued assistance of our local emergency responders,” Vistra Energy said in a statement.

The Moss Landing Power Plant is a natural gas power plant that has operated near the Moss Landing Harbor since 2022, according to the California Energy Commission. It was not immediately clear what sparked the blaze.

An investigation into what sparked it would begin after the blaze was extinguished, the spokesperson said.

Vistra, a Texas-based energy company, began operating its $400 million energy storage facility on the power plant site in 2021. The company also operates a 1,020-megawatt natural gas-fueled power plant alongside the batteries, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.