Power generation firm Vistra has successfully restarted its Moss Landing Energy Storage facility in Monterey County, California, US.
The facility is now storing and releasing power to the California grid with more than 98% of its 400MW capacity, with the remaining 7 MW due to be restored later this summer once replacement batteries and electrical components are received.
The company have been incrementally bringing the facility online throughout May and June, after implementing “identified corrective actions” related to connectors in the water-based heat suppression system.
Vistra continues to work with regulators and state and local officials as it completes the restoration work.
Cause of outage
Leaked water is believed to have caused the batteries at the facility to short and prompted the early detection safety system to activate in the 100MW Phase II building at the facility late on 13 February.
Shorted lithium-ion batteries and subsequent smoke are believed to have triggered the shutting down of the world’s biggest energy storage system— early evidence from power generation firm Vistra Energy suggests.
Vistra’s Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility consists of two separate buildings— one housing the 300-MW Phase I system and the other housing the 100-MW Phase II system.
Construction is underway on the 350-MW Phase III expansion, which is set to be commercially operational next summer.
A potential fourth phase could eventually expand the site’s capacity to 1,500MW— enough to power up to 1.125 million California homes.
