Second Fire at Moss Landing Reignites Concern Over Aging Battery Site

A second fire broke out at the Moss Landing battery storage facility in California while crews were dismantling it, reviving public worry about a site already hit by a major blaze in January 2025.

The new incident, reported by Canary Media, involved batteries that had been damaged in the earlier fire. At the time of ignition, roughly 5,000 modules remained on site — down from more than 39,000 before dismantling began. The exact cause has not been determined, though residual charge in the damaged cells is considered a possible factor. The complex removal operation is being carried out by facility owner Vistra.

Attention has turned to the site’s design, which does not match current industry safety practices. Batteries were packed densely inside a former turbine hall, and the installation used nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry. The stationary storage sector has since moved heavily toward lithium-iron-phosphate cells, considered safer, while modern large-scale projects typically use spaced modular containers to limit fire spread — an approach not employed at Moss Landing.

The fire did not reach the neighboring Elkhorn station, a PG&E asset, but local authorities issued shelter-in-place orders for nearby residents. Canary Media noted that the incident means the industry will continue fielding questions tied to this facility. The fire is seen as reflecting the specific vulnerabilities of an outdated installation, not the safety record of present-day battery storage systems. The Elkhorn station, also offline since the 2025 fire, is scheduled to return to service by July 1, 2027.

Source: Canary Media