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Close up of battery modules at Moss Landing energy storage facility. Image: Vistra Energy



It is reported that on February 13th, five months after the thermal runaway event in September, the world's largest lithium battery energy storage station MossLanding experienced another thermal runaway event, causing the system to be disconnected from the grid again.



Operator Vistra Energy announced yesterday that after the incident on Sunday evening (February 13), the first phase of the 300MW/1200MWh expansion project of the energy storage station, the second phase of 100MW/400MWh, has entered an off grid state.



The Moss Landing Phase I project operated by Vistra Energy is located at the site of the retired Moss Landing gas power plant in Monterey County, California, USA. It has an energy storage capacity of 300MW/1200MWh and utilizes the building where turbines are placed in the retired power plant to store batteries. It also utilizes the existing systems of Units 6 and 7 in the power plant to connect to the grid. The first phase of the project includes three 100MW arrays, each consisting of 32-33 energy storage systems. Each energy storage system consists of 47-48 battery racks, each rack containing 22 battery modules. The entire project consists of 98 energy storage systems, 4539 battery racks, and 99858 battery modules. In addition to batteries, it also includes medium voltage switchgear, converters and underground cable systems, high-voltage circuit breakers, etc.



In September 2020, the second phase of the 100MW/400MWh project began construction and commissioning began in July 2021. On January 25, 2022, Vistra Energy also proposed to continue expanding this world's largest energy storage project and carry out Phase III construction of 350MW/1400MWh.



On September 4th last year, Moss Landing experienced its first thermal runaway. In an accident analysis report released in January, it was determined that the cause of the battery thermal runaway was the automatic sprinkler fire extinguishing system, which activated in response to smoke from the air handling unit due to bearing failure, rather than internal failure or damage to the battery unit.



After the accident, Vistra Energy stated that numerous improvements had been made, including:

a. A pressure test will be conducted on the complete cooling system, and any leaks found will be addressed.

b. Install an air monitoring system to continuously monitor the leakage of the cooling system.

c. The VESDA (Early Smoke Detection Device) system will be reviewed to ensure its programming meets specification requirements.

d. All air handling units are equipped with smoke detectors.

e. Seal the gaps in the upper layer.



And this accident seems to be a recurrence of the accident in September. As before, there were no casualties, and after the early detection and safety system of Phase II was activated, local firefighters also received an alarm and arrived at the scene.



Vistra Energy previously released a report on the first phase of the accident and has prepared to restart after rectification. However, due to the current situation, the system restart will be postponed.



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