Moss Landing Fire
Overview
Joanie Brooke | February 5, 2025
Moss Landing Battery Fire – what happened?
2 Image: Interior of Moss Landing BESS Phase I
https://www.energy-storage.news/fire-at-moss-landing-energy-storage-facility-what-we-know-so-far/ Moss Landing was a non-standard design:
• Phase I was built indoors, as one large 300MW
battery
• Minimal fire barriers between cells/modules
• Battery chemistry: Lithium Nickel Manganese
Cobalt Oxide (NMB), generally considered more
prone to thermal runaway
• Phase I was constructed before NFPA 855
established standards for battery storage design
and installation
• The non-standard design, and emergency
response standards, allowed the fire to propagate
through the entire building.
Current Standards
Current fire standard: NFPA 855
• Released 4/1/2020, Updated 8/25/2023
• Standard dictates testing, fire walls, minimum spacing between units, site-specific hazard mitigations, &
emergency response planning.
• Each container has dedicated HVAC unit, smoke, gas &
fire alarms, fire suppression systems, & automatic shut-off controls. • Factory testing ensures containers can suppress fires and prevent igniting adjacent units
Battery Chemistry
• Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFB) is the most common
chemistry today, generally considered to be stable.
3 Image Source: Daggett PV+Storage March 2024 Progress Report Overview of California Energy Storage
California has over 13,000MW of Energy Storage
online as of the end of 2024 and ~11,500MW is
Utility scale
>94% of all utility scale battery capacity came
online in 2021 or later after NFPA 855 standards
were released
* Information taken from CEC CA Energy Storage Survey 4 Overview of Ava’s Contracted Batteries
Ava’s contracted portfolio:
• 19 Storage Sites under contract (+1GW Nameplate)
▪ 7 in operation (352.5MW)
▪ 12 under development (737 MW)
• All are outdoor stationary containers (~2MW each)
• All permitted after NFPA 855 was released
• 16 Lithium-ion Phosphate (LFB)
• 3 Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMB)
▪ Ava is discussing full safety reviews of NMB sites
with the developers.
5 Image Source: Scarlet I PV+Storage Feb 2024 Progress Report Project List
6 Project Technology Actual / Forecasted COD Storage Capacity (MW) Contract Duration (yr) County State
ONLINE PROJECTS
Henrietta D BESS 12/28/2021 10 15 Kings California
Ocotillo Solar + Storage 8/31/2023 50 10 San Diego California Daggett Solar + Storage 9/5/2023 12.5 15 San Bernadino California Oberon Solar + Storage 1/1/2024 125 15 Riverside California Scarlet I Solar + Storage 5/3/2024 30 20 Fresno California Tumbleweed_4hr BESS 7/16/2024 50 15 Kern California
Scarlet II_BESS BESS 12/11/2024 75 10 Fresno California
PROJECTS IN DEVELOPEMENT
Malaga – BESS BESS 2/15/2025 96 15 Fresno California
Hanford BESS 3/6/2025 16 15 Kings California
Kola BESS 7/7/2025 125 20 San Joaquin California
Alpaugh BESS 4/1/2026 5 12 Tulare California
Sun Pond Solar + Storage 4/1/2026 42.5 20 Maricopa Arizona Tumbleweed_8hr BESS 6/1/2026 50 12 Kern California
Scarlet III – BESS BESS 12/31/2026 70 10 Fresno California Aramis BESS 1/1/2027 25 10 Alameda California
Imperial Sun Solar + Storage 3/31/2027 100 15 Imperial California Gabriel BESS BESS 5/10/2027 100 20 Los Angeles California Zeta Solar Solar + Storage 7/26/2027 37.5 20 Merced California Rosemary Solar + Storage 6/1/2028 70 20 Fresno California