This page contains the most up-to-date information about the Moss Landing 300 battery fire in Monterey County, California. Vistra is committed to keeping the community informed with transparent updates.

SITE STATUS:  

All battery facilities at the site remain offline; the natural gas plant is operational. 

Additional instances of smoke and flare-ups are a possibility given the nature of this situation and the damage to the batteries. Since the January 16 fire, Vistra has brought in a private professional fire brigade that is onsite 24/7 to monitor the Moss 300 building. Additionally, CTEH has permanent air-quality monitors around the plant site’s perimeter along with other continuously operating monitors at locations in the surrounding community. Under the direction of the U.S. EPA, continuous air quality monitoring is ongoing, and no hazardous air conditions have been detected.

CURRENT ACTIVITY: De-linking to Reduce Risk of Reignition

Under the direction of the U.S. EPA, Vistra has been cleared to enter a portion of the Moss 300 building to begin performing the first work activities to isolate the batteries and reduce the risk of reignition ahead of demolition work. The EPA is overseeing all work at the site and has approved beginning “de-linking” activities.

De-linking creates a safer, more stable condition by removing the electrical connection between battery modules and racks. The process involves unbolting metal plates that connect the batteries in a series, thus mitigating the risk of individual batteries interacting with other batteries and reducing the potential for flare-ups. This is the first step in what will be a lengthy process to safely remove the batteries and begin demolishing the building.

The first area we are focused on is the first floor of the west end of the building. The structural engineering firm has completed its analysis of this portion of the building and has deemed it safe for trained personnel to enter for this purpose.

The work began on Feb. 22 and is expected to take approximately two weeks to de-link approximately one-third of the battery modules. Together, EPA and Vistra have developed specific procedures to perform these activities, and workers have completed special training to enter the building and begin delinking the batteries.

Round-the-clock fire watch and air monitoring are ongoing and will continue throughout the demolition process.

INVESTIGATION PROGRESS 

At this time, the cause of the January 16 fire remains unknown. We are currently conducting a thorough, methodical investigation into the cause and have retained multiple outside experts who are assisting in this effort. Investigations like these take time, and we ask for your patience as our teams examine a myriad of data points to understand what happened. 

In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to be transparent with local officials, regulatory agencies, and the public on the next steps for the Moss Landing battery facilities and the findings of our investigation. When we have updates to share, they will be posted here on our response site.  

We want to emphasize again that Moss Landing is not only home to our facility, it’s home to our employees and neighbors. We are committed to doing everything we can to do right by our community and are working in concert with federal, state, and local agencies to ensure public health and safety.  

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