A Tesla Megapack in Moss Landing, California
Andrew Evers | CNBC
At the very least one particular Tesla Megapack caught fire early Tuesday early morning at the electricity storage facility operated by utility PG&E in Monterey, California.
As of late Tuesday early morning, there ended up no power outages for PG&E clients, nor any accidents to on-web page personnel because of to the fire, in accordance to PG&E spokesperson Jeff Smith. The California utility became knowledgeable of the hearth at 1:30 a.m. on September 20, 2022, Smith claimed in an e-mail.
The hearth was not but fully extinguished prior to publication.
PG&E commissioned the 182.5-megawatt (MW) Tesla Megapack system, regarded as the Elkhorn Battery at Moss Landing, in April this calendar year.
Gigantic batteries like the Megapack, as effectively as those people created by ABB and Northvolt, empower grid operators to shift added capability between counties or states, and assure that energy from intermittent sources can be stored and used when need is greater, or when there are unplanned outages in a transmission network.
The fires in the power storage techniques at Moss Landing are reminiscent of incidents involving Tesla Megapacks in Australia. They also underscore the challenges of adopting new know-how to boost the efficiency of the energy grid, and to make increased use of electrical energy from intermittent, renewable methods like wind and solar.
There are two unique vitality storage assignments at Moss Landing in Monterey. 1 is operated by PG&E and the other by Texas-primarily based Vistra. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Vistra informed CNBC their facility was not impacted by this celebration. Nevertheless, the Vistra facet of Moss Landing has experienced two overheating incidents in the past.
California Freeway Patrol shut a area of Highway 1 and redirected targeted visitors absent from the facility for hours adhering to the fireplace.
Subsequent the fire, some people around the Elkhorn Battery substation at Moss Landing have been instructed to shelter in spot owing to emissions.
According to Richard Stedman, an air pollution regulate officer for the Monterey Bay Air Methods District (MBARD), lithium ion battery fires can emit toxic constituents, like hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid. MBARD did not have any fast details about air high quality impacts from the Elkhorn Battery hearth, he said, but will work with local authorities to research the issue immediately after the fire has been absolutely extinguished.
PG&E’s Jeff Smith mentioned, “Basic safety techniques at the facility worked as created when the situation was detected, and immediately disconnected the battery storage facility from the electrical grid.”
Correction: Formerly, Vistra’s power storage techniques at the Moss Landing website overheated.
This is a developing tale. Make sure you examine back for updates.