The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is considering putting in place a “temporary moratorium on the acceptance of new BESS applications”, according to a media report, after a lithium-ion battery fire last week forced hundreds of businesses to evacuate in the city of Escondido in the US state of California.
Businesses were evacuated for a number of days following the outbreak of the fire, while firefighters allowed the batteries to burn out.
ABC 10News San Diego has reported that the board is considering a number of options including a temporary moratorium on BESS applications, requests for additional fire suppression technical reports and “new disclosure requirements to make any battery energy storage systems go ‘above and beyond’ current code requirements”.
The report stated that, should the board opt for a moratorium, projects frozen could include a proposed AES’ Seguro 320MW / 1,280 MWh storage project in Escondido, close to the site of last week’s fire.
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