Highway 1 closed in Moss Landing due to fire in Tesla Megapack at PG&E battery storage facility

Officials closed Highway 1 in both directions in Moss Landing early Tuesday morning after a fire was detected at the PG&E Elkhorn Battery Storage facility.

According to Jeff Smith, a spokesman with PG&E, officials became aware of a fire in one Tesla Megapack at PG&E’s Elkhorn Battery Storage facility in Monterey County at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

“PG&E is working with firefighters to stop the spread of the fire and provide a safe area for emergency response personnel,” he said via email.

Kevin Drabinski, a Caltrans spokesman, said the California Highway Patrol reached out to Caltrans early Tuesday morning to set up the closure.

“(We have) hard closures northbound and southbound, with no estimated time for reopening,” Drabinski said by phone around 9:30 a.m.

Shelter in Place Advisory zones in Moss Landing are now available on an interactive map, please, visit the direct interactive map for easier viewing: https://t.co/2Fw8vRPYSf#MossLandingIncident pic.twitter.com/zxn0ry6pVi

— MontereyCoInfo (@MontereyCoInfo) September 20, 2022

The northbound closure of Highway 1 is in place at Molera Road, while Drabinski said the southbound closure was in place at Jensen Road.

Meranda Cohn, a spokesperson for Vistra, said the company’s power plant in Moss Landing adjacent to the PG&E’s battery facility and substation was not affected by the fire.

“Our equipment is safe and is not impacted,” Cohn said in an email.

According to PG&E, there have been no injuries to onsite personnel at the battery storage facility. Smith said safety systems at the facility worked as designed when the issue was detected, and automatically disconnected the battery storage facility from the electrical grid.

“The safety of our customers, employees, contractors and the communities we serve is PG&E’s top priority,” he said, adding that there were no electrical outages for customers due to the incident as of Tuesday morning.

The closure disrupted the morning commute for many residents in the Monterey Bay area, causing large delays and traffic jams.

“There are a number of detours available but it impacts those roads as well, they’re not used to taking that overflow,” Drabinski said.

Highway 1 is closed as crews respond to a large fire at the PG&E energy storage facility in Moss Landing. The highway is closed between Salinas Road and Potrero Road, the California Highway Patrol told @KSBWPhil. The CHP said the highway could be closed four to six hours. pic.twitter.com/GW69kzqHJY

— Paul Dudley (@PaulDudleyKSBW) September 20, 2022

Highway 183 (Merritt Street) was backed up through Castroville during the Tuesday morning commute as drivers sought to go around the closure via Highway 156.

Industrial-sized battery facilities are a fast-growing part of California’s energy system. To reduce smog and greenhouse gas emissions, state laws require an increasing amount of renewable energy to generate electricity. Currently, California receives about 35% of its electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources. But solar farms stop producing electricity when the sun goes down.

During heat waves, when millions of people in Southern California, the Central Valley and other inland areas have air conditioning turned up high into the evening hours, electricity demand remains very high. But the lack of solar generation has caused the risk of blackouts as supply falls. As a result, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state energy regulators have been pushing for more construction of large battery projects, which store solar power during the day and then release that electricity it at night.

The amount of battery storage in the state has increased from about 300 megawatts in 2020 to about 3,500 megawatts now. State energy regulators and utilities are planning for much more in the years ahead.

During the historic heat wave two weeks ago, battery storage was cited by Newsom and others as a key tool in helping keep the lights on, even as temperatures hit 116 degrees in the East Bay, and similarly scorching readings in the Central Valley.

“The batteries have been extremely valuable to the system,” said Elliot Mainzer, CEO of the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state’s power grid, during a Sept. 7 news conference a day after the state averted rolling blackouts in the heat wave.

Staff writer Austin Turner contributed to this report. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.