SAN DIEGO, CA — Following last week’s lithium battery fire resulting in evacuation orders and warnings at a San Diego Gas & Electric battery storage facility in Escondido, the County Board of Supervisors will consider putting a pause on future such facilities.

The action in front of the supervisors on Wednesday will present several options to the board. The body can request additional fire suppression technical reports and/or include new disclosure requirements to make any new battery energy storage systems go “above and beyond” current code requirements.

Additionally, they will have the choice to put a temporary moratorium on the acceptance of new BESS applications or adopt an urgency ordinance requiring new facilities to use modular designs and follow National Fire Protection Association guidelines.

The item was already scheduled for the board but gained more urgency following the Thursday afternoon fire at the SDG&E facility. The fire was allowed to burn out by itself — per industry standard, a statement from the Escondido Fire Department read.

Just one of the site’s 24 cells caught fire.

While no one was injured by the fire, evacuation orders were issued to businesses in the largely industrial part of the city.

The moratorium the supervisors will discuss couldn’t come any sooner, some residents say.

“Area residents are renewing their call for the county to issue a moratorium on building new lithium battery storage facilities in neighborhoods,” reads a statement from a group of citizens, including JP Theberge of the Elfin Forest Harmony Grove Town Council and Joe Rowley, a retired engineer and battery storage facility developer.

“The Escondido battery fire is unfolding in an industrial area away from homes and residences. However, it reinforces the concerns of residents that a project that is 10 times larger (the Seguro project) is being proposed, which would be surrounded by hundreds of homes and upwind from a hospital in northern San Diego County, near Escondido,” they write. “Despite the current fire being in an industrial area, hundreds of businesses were evacuated and many more were told to shelter-in-place. Schools located downwind were closed today as well.”

Should the supervisors elect the moratorium route, it could freeze the proposed AES’ Seguro storage project in Escondido, not far from where Thursday’s fire took place. This project would be capable of storing up to 320 megawatts or 1,280 megawatt hours worth of energy — several times larger than the facility where the fire continues to burn.

Without the BESS facilities, the county could have a difficult time meeting its climate goals.

The battery storage facilities are a component of the county’s respond to green energy, storing energy from renewable sources such as solar or wind to use as needed. They are intended as an alternative or at least a supplement to fossil fuel energies such as natural gas and oil.

Since 2021, there have been 45 fires at similar BESS facilities, including one at the Otay Mesa battery storage earlier this year and one in Valley Center last year.

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“We are delighted to bring online the Victory Pass and Arica solar and energy storage complex and begin providing cost-competitive clean energy for California homes and businesses with these projects,” said Valerie Wooley, SVP of Origination at Clearway. “This pair of solar and storage projects will enhance the state’s energy grid by providing reliable power when it’s needed most. We are immensely grateful to the eight Victory Pass and Arica customers, whose long-term commitments to procuring clean, reliable energy made this all possible.”

Victory Pass is contracted with Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) and Central Coast Community Energy (3CE). Arica is contracted with Clean Power Alliance (CPA), Peninsula Clean Energy(PCE), MCE, Southern California Edison (SCE), an affiliate of NRG Energy, Inc., and PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP).

“Increasing our 24/7 renewable power capabilities is critical to helping our region address a rapidly changing climate,” said Peninsula Clean Energy CEO Shawn Marshall. “This project helps us by producing and storing emission-free solar power that can be used day or night throughout the year.”

Together, Arica and Victory Pass represent a $1 billion investment in Riverside County. In addition, over the life of the projects, Arica and Victory Pass will contribute a combined $25.8 million in taxes that support local schools, hospitals, emergency response and other public services. During construction, the projects created 1,000 union jobs and will support a permanent workforce throughout operations.

These projects add to Clearway’s footprint in Riverside County, where the company now has over 1.2 GW of operating renewable and storage assets across five utility-scale solar projects and four distributed solar installations, in addition to the Arica and Victory Pass solar and storage complex.

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