(Utility Dive) The U.S. energy storage industry finds itself at a crossroads in the aftermath of the January blaze at the 300-MW first phase of Vistra’s Moss Landing energy storage facility near Santa Cruz, California.
Nearby residents reported feeling ill in the days after the blaze, and a legal team that includes celebrity environmental activist Erin Brockovich cited possible soil contamination in a lawsuit filed earlier this month. One local elected official compared the incident to the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Another sponsored a bill to increase zoning setbacks for new energy storage facilities. Elsewhere in California, elected officials in San Luis Obispo and Orange counties enacted moratoriums on utility-scale energy storage development.
