MOSS LANDING — Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency began overseeing cleanup of the lithium-ion batteries that burned in a massive fire at the Moss Landing Power Plant in January. The effort, which involves removing tens of thousands of damaged battery modules, is the largest lithium-ion battery cleanup in the EPA’s history.
On Jan. 16, lithium-ion batteries located in the Moss Landing storage facility and owned by Vistra, a Texas-based energy company, ignited and burned for two days. The fire, which burned about 55% of what was at the time the world’s largest battery energy storage system, made international headlines and caused local concern and confusion over the possible environmental and health effects of the disaster.
Vistra’s 300-megawatt battery energy storage system contained 100,000 battery modules and was intended to store energy from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, to be distributed to the electrical grid at a later time. Following the fire, the batteries were delinked to minimize the risk of flare-ups. The Vistra batteries and the nearby PG&E batteries that did not burn, have been sitting idle since January.
In recent months, the burned structure around the damaged batteries was stabilized and partially demolished to allow for safe entry and removal. Vistra, named as a “potentially responsible party” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, is paying for the removal and disposal of the batteries, in accordance with the company’s Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order on Consent with the EPA.
The damaged batteries do still present a fire risk. Lithium-ion battery fires can produce smoke and give off harmful gases. To mitigate the risk of a potentially harmful flare-up, Vistra contractors will remove the damaged battery modules one at a time and discharge each of them. Then, the batteries will be treated according to their condition before being packaged and transported to be recycled or otherwise properly disposed of.
The EPA will also continue to monitor air quality near the site, as well as using thermal cameras to keep an eye on the risk of the batteries overheating or reigniting. There are also measures in place to minimize the environmental impacts of the removal. To minimize the spread of dust from the burned facility, the EPA will oversee street sweeping and water trucks. Finally, water that enters the site’s stormwater system will be sampled and tested for harmful compounds before being disposed of.
The EPA and Vistra are also coordinating with local agencies to alert the community and activate emergency responses in the event of a smoke event or another flare-up, according to an EPA statement.