Second Fire at Moss Landing Exposes Lingering Risks of Legacy Battery Design

A second fire has broken out at the former Moss Landing battery storage facility in California, igniting during the dismantling of the last 5,000 modules still carrying residual charge. The blaze occurred as workers were in the process of removing equipment from the Vistra-operated site, according to Canary Media.

When it opened in 2020, the plant was the world’s most powerful battery storage facility, rated at 300 MW and 1,200 MWh. A fire in January 2025 had effectively disabled the entire facility, and the latest incident emerged during the complex teardown that followed.

The recurring trouble traces back to decisions made at the design stage. The original plant packed dense rows of batteries into a large former gas turbine hall — a single-space configuration that does not align with current safety practices. By contrast, modern utility-scale battery energy storage systems are typically built with spaced modular containers, an arrangement intended to reduce the risk of fire spreading between units.

Chemistry was another factor setting the facility apart from newer projects. Moss Landing used nickel-manganese-cobalt lithium-ion cells, cells adapted from the electric-vehicle sector. The stationary storage market has since moved heavily toward lithium iron phosphate chemistry, which is regarded as safer, though it offers lower energy density.

The fire did not reach the neighboring Elkhorn station operated by PG&E, but local authorities issued shelter-in-place orders for residents in surrounding areas. The incident poses a reputational challenge for the storage industry, though its causes are rooted in an outdated design that differs substantially from installations built today.

Source: Canary Media