Renewable energy advocates have long called for building battery complexes to store intermittent solar and wind energy, but a recent fire that spewed toxic heavy metals all around a California battery storage facility that went up in flames have some leaders wondering whether the new technology is worth the risk and environmental cost.
A few weeks ago in Monterey a massive grid-scale battery-powered energy storage facility went up in flames, spewing burnt battery material into the air. Now, scientists at San Jose State University have found extremely high levels of toxic heavy metals — hundreds to thousands of times higher than before — in the area near the fire, despite the Environmental Protection Agencies initial claims that the fire did not release toxins.
“These nanoparticles are used in cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, commonly referred to as ‘NMC’ (nickel manganese cobalt), clearly connecting the occurrence of the heavy metals to airborne cathode material from the Vistra battery fire,” wrote SJSU in a statement. “These heavy metals will chemically transform as they move through the environments and potentially through the food web, affecting local aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.”
“These findings and the research that follows are crucial not only to the impacted community but to the national and international community because of the need to store more power and thus build more and larger battery storage facilities,” said research team head and SJSU Professor Ivano Aiello.
“This is a new and fast-growing technology, and we must understand the ecological impacts in the event that accidents like this happen again.”
When fully finished in 2021, the Vistra Corporation’s 400 megawatt battery center was the largest in the world, and operates under an agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric.
