OVERVIEW
On Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, a fire occurred at the 300MW battery energy storage facility (Moss 300) at Vistra’s Moss Landing site in Monterey County, California. Company personnel immediately responded, and the North County Fire Protection District was dispatched to the scene. The fire was contained to the Moss 300 building and did not spread to any of the other energy storage facilities or the natural gas plant located on site.
Multiple agencies and organizations have monitored local air, water, and soil. To date, no risks to public health have been observed.
Air quality monitoring and sampling during and after the incident found no hazardous air conditions or risks to public health. These findings have been confirmed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Monterey Bay Air Resources District. Out of an abundance of caution, air monitoring and sampling remain ongoing on the site and in the nearby community while recovery operations are underway.
Approximately 1,200 nearby residents were evacuated for 24 hours as a precaution. To assist these residents, Vistra established a community assistance program to offset any evacuation expenses. The Community Foundation for Monterey County and its partners – United Way Monterey County and the Castro Plaza Family Resource Center – helped distribute assistance to residents. Vistra also established a business claims program for businesses located in the evacuation zone or operating at or out of Moss Landing Harbor to file a claim for financial assistance.
This website was established to share important information, including frequently asked questions, environmental testing results, progress on site recovery, and other important information, which can all be found using the tabs above.
RECOVERY PROGRESS | Updated: March 2025
All accessible battery modules in the Moss 300 structure have been safely de-linked. De-linking creates a safer, more stable condition for the batteries and is the first step toward safely removing the undamaged batteries from the building.
Structural engineering work is underway to develop a work plan to ensure building integrity and safe access points to address the remaining batteries.
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.
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.