Months after a fire ignited a battery storage system in Northern California, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors responded to public concern by giving itself more power to oversee the county’s construction and design of local sites.
The supervisors met in Santa Maria on Tuesday, where they heard a presentation about the construction and maintenance of battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects.
The board voted to apply to have local control of the battery system under AB 303, the Battery Energy Safety & Accountability Act. The act gives local governments more control over battery sites located in their jurisdictions.
The decision was approved in a 5-0 vote.
The presentation comes after a battery fire erupted in January at a Moss Landing facility in Monterey County. The fire burned for two days, and 80% of the batteries and the building were destroyed.
During a presentation to the board, Fred Tan, the county fire marshal, said the Moss Landing facility was built in 2020 and pre-dated many international, national and local laws.
One of the main differences is that the Monterey location was built to contain the batteries indoors, while most modern BESS sites are built outdoors. Tan said he believes that the building was engineered to keep the batteries confined and provide enough ventilation to prevent fires, but it did not work as intended.
“As we can see, and as most of your constituents are concerned, they found that (…) putting a product in there that can be subject to and has a little less tolerance to heat and could catch fire within a building that really contains heat very well wasn’t the best design,” Tan said.
Tan added that most newer BESS sites are built outside. The most recent BESS location is in Goleta and was built outside with precautions to prevent fire from spreading to multiple batteries.
The Goleta site was also designed under the 2021 International Fire Code Requirements, includes a fire protection plan, and the local fire department has been trained on how to respond to a fire at the BESS.
Another nearby site is the Caballero BESS in Nipomo, which was approved in 2023 and went online this year. Like the Goleta location, the Caballero Bess is located outdoors, and the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management works with the San Luis Obispo office to develop plans in case of emergencies.
After hearing from county staff and the public, Supervisor Joan Hartmann made a motion that the county apply for greater control of BESS Sites under AB 303.
“As a strong proponent of renewable energy, we do want to make it safe,” Hartmann said.
If granted approval, the county would consider expanding the range of providing notice to residents who live near battery stations, review projects, monitor air quality and modify its ordinance for BESS stations.
Public comment on the item ranged from supportive to critical, with some residents saying the sites are needed while others expressed fears of fires.
One of the speakers included Lee Heller, who said that while she appreciated the concerns raised by the board, she said she is more scared of the gas-powered water heater in her garage than a battery fire.
“We need to make sure the technology we use is as safe as possible. The latest changes to the fire code, the updates in technology, the capacity of this county to impose regulations to make sure we have safe battery storage are all there, but we need to move forward. We need battery storage. This is safer than anything we have been doing,” Heller told the board.
Thomas Becker expressed concern that the technology used on BESS sites was rushed and poses risks to the public.
“When lithium-ion batteries burn, they release toxic gases and particles,” Becker said. “At Moss Landing, thousands of people were exposed to toxic gases and particles from a lithium-ion fire resulting in illnesses that in long term or short term may kill or cripple many of those people.”