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Morro Bay City Council votes to ban battery storage facilities

February 26, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

The Morro Bay City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to extend an urgency ordinance banning battery storage facilities in the city.

Vistra, a Texas-based energy company, has plans to construct and operate a 600 megawatt battery storage facility on approximately 24 acres of a roughly 70-acre site. However, residents, concerned the facility will endanger the public while negatively impacting tourism and the fishing industry, have battled against the proposed project for several years.

On Jan. 28, the City Council voted for an urgency ordinance to temporarily halt a potential battery energy storage project. The urgency ordinance was set to expire on March 14.

In an attempt to protect the community while working on a permanent solution, the City Council voted Tuesday to extend the urgency ordinance through Jan. 28, 2027.

The extension will provide time for city staff to research and develop permanent regulations to address the impacts of battery storage facilities. In two to three months, city staff is slated to bring ideas regarding a permanent ordinance to the City Council.

 


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Worried about them overriding the city?

See you at the protests!

Join us in the lawsuits!


3

“Carbon Kills”. The Planet is more important then the people in Morro Bay . I want my “Green Energy “.


-17

New battery facilities use different chemistry batteries from the one in Monterey, there is no risk of fire anymore. But I’m sure you all know that and didn’t just listen to stuff you’ve seen on the internet.


-28

What types of batteries are new large grid storage facilities actually using today?

From Google: Lithium-ion batteries are the most common type of battery used in grid energy storage systems. Other types of batteries that are being considered for grid storage include lead-acid, redox flow, and molten salt.”

The molten salt towers in the desert were a monumental failure and lead-acid was invented in 1859 and not a solution for todays demands which just leaves redox flow batteries as a possible replacement for lithium ion. Redox flow batteries are currently being used in California but at a much smaller scale due to them only having about half the energy density of a lithium ion battery.

Issues with redox flow include:

Low energy density compared to lithium ion batteries.

Lower permissible operating temperatures minimise the range of applications.

Strong price fluctuations for vanadium.

Undesired transition of the electrolytes through the membrane (so-called crossover)

Yes, we need to stop using lithium ion in grid storage, there is too much risk of thermal runaway, but in order for companies to switch there needs to be something comparable to the energy density while vastly reducing its dangers which we don’t seem to be quite there yet (and why I feel there needs to be a pause on building grid storage facilities until that issue is resolved). There are a lot of ‘lab’ batteries that are better and safer but have not made their way to a retail market yet.


9

Consumer cost ?


-2

Lithium iron phosphate, it doesn’t burn, it can’t burn. Look it up.


0

Cost to end user on our PG&E bill ? There is zero calculations on what wind, solar, heliostats, batteries have added to our consumer cost. California has the nations highest cost energy. At peak demand 40% of our electricity comes from outside our state. Ivanpah Solar Electric is set for closure in 2026. Failed experiment ? Cost ?


4

Vistra is still Vistra.


2

Why not build a floating storage facility, 20 miles offshore? Those batteries could rest playfully with the windmills…


1

At what cost ? Are you saying Consumers can pay any price for electricity ?


0

“Electricity prices are tracking toward heights unseen since the 1990s when factoring in inflation, according to a new report from the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

Skyrocketing demand from power-hungry technology like artificial intelligence is driving the trend, and Americans are feeling the pinch.


“I don’t see how any of the Trump administration policies could realistically reduce electricity prices for consumers,” said Michelle Solomon, manager of the electricity program at the research firm Energy Innovation. “It seems like the Trump administration is trying to put its thumb on the scales for certain resources over others versus letting the market dictate which resources are the cheapest.”


Solomon said over 90 percent of new resources added to the grid last year were wind, solar and batteries, the latter of which is needed to use wind and solar electrons when they’re not being produced.

“What’s waiting in line to connect to the grid is largely wind, solar and batteries,” Solomon said. “That means those wind, solar and battery projects are kind of in various stages of development, whereas with a gas project, you’re going to have to be starting from scratch.””


https://www.eenews.net/articles/electricity-prices-are-spiking-thats-a-problem-for-trump/


-3

Now you’re thinking like a true bureaucrat, why not at the bottom of the ocean to reduce fire risk.


-2

I can always count on you, to understand my sarcasm :)


1

Unfortunately this appears to be nothing more than̈ posturing. Having forced vistra to go through 205, the city is a non-entity in this play. The state,vistra and coastal commission now appear to be the only players at the table. The city has no official voice any longer.


4

Excellent decision Morro Bay City council.


27

Vistra will try again. Too many investors to appease. Be ready MB!


17

Good choice, Council.


Another flare-up occurred January 16 at the Vistra battery storage plant in Moss Landing. The

North (Monterey) County Fire Protection District Chief Joel Mendoza stated the reason for the rekindling was due to rainwater leaking onto the damaged batteries, stating that “When water impacts the electrodes in the batteries, it short circuits, and is almost a certainty that after a lithium battery fire a flare-up will occur.”


20

Great! Now how about a State law that says they can’t be built within 5 miles of residential areas!


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