As San Diego County grapples with the push and pull of green energy infrastructure and community safety, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer has made a proactive move. Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer introduced an amendment to strictly regulate the placement of battery storage facilities. The amendment focuses on establishing "minimum residential buffer parameters" to protect local neighborhoods from potential risks linked to such facilities, responding specifically to concerns raised following recent fires.
In the wake of a lithium battery blaze at a San Diego Gas & Electric storage site in Escondido, the County Board of Supervisors faces pressure to halt the development of new battery storage sites temporarily. According to 10News, a suite of options will be presented to the supervisors, including calling for advanced fire suppression reports and heightened disclosure mandates. One such option could freeze the proposed AES' Seguro storage project, significantly larger than the Escondido site where the fire broke out. With no injuries reported, the fire, confined to a single cell of the facility, prompted evacuations and raised the alarm over larger proposed projects in residential vicinities.
Lawson-Remer's amendment charges the County Fire Chief to analyze ideal buffer distances for these storage systems. As per Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, the infrastructure is "necessary for us to meet our climate goals," yet they must be constructed in ways that do not put residents at risk. The aim is to reach an accord allowing the dual objectives of climate progress and community safety to move forward hand in hand.
Meanwhile, citizens have reignited their calls for a building moratorium on new storage facilities. "The Escondido battery fire is unfolding in an industrial area away from homes and residences. However, it reinforces the concerns of residents that a project that is 10 times larger (the Seguro project) is being proposed, which would be surrounded by hundreds of homes and upwind from a hospital in northern San Diego County, near Escondido," pointed out a group that includes JP Theberge of the Elfin Forest Harmony Grove Town Council and Joe Rowley, a retired engineer and battery storage facility developer, according to 10News.
