Vacaville neighbors push back on proposed battery plant as energy company works to win favor

CBS News

3 days ago

An open house meeting was held on Wednesday night in Vacaville for NextEra Energy to tell the community more about its proposed battery energy storage system facility in Solano County.
Developers on the Corby Project website call it an innovative project that features batteries with a capacity of up to 300 megawatts.
The proposed location is on 40 acres of land owned by the company near the intersection of Kilkenny Road and Byrnes Road in Solano County.
NextEra says in its project description online:
"It will provide California with additional flexibility in managing the energy grid, helping keep the lights on even during the hottest months of the year, when demand for electricity is at its peak. It will also help balance the diverse renewable energy resources on the grid minute by minute, filling in the gaps even when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining. The Corby Project is more than batteries — it represents a significant capital investment in California. It will create good-paying jobs and millions in additional revenue for the local community."
Stephen Anh, the project developer, told CBS13 at Wednesday's meeting that the project is expected to have minimal environmental impact and should bring in around 200 new jobs.
"The project is also expected to generate over $70 million in property tax revenue to support local initiatives," said Anh.
Some neighbors are sounding the alarm on the project, saying the public safety risks outweigh the benefits, and organizing a campaign against it.
"They do have an inherent risk that they can catch fire in a process called thermal runaway. During that fire, they could burn for multiple days and cause residents to evacuate and emit toxic fumes into the air," said Sarah Dunn, a Vacaville resident volunteering on the county's Technical Working Group researching battery energy storage systems. "Also, particulate matter that could be toxic and potentially contaminate the area surrounding them. So it's really important that they're sited in appropriate locations so they don't pose a hazard to the people that live around them."
For example, in February, a battery storage facility near Monterey caught fire and prompted evacuations due to the unknown hazards in the smoke.
Dunn says Solano County is working to adopt a new ordinance and better safety regulations for these types of battery storage facilities.
Right now, there is a countywide moratorium against them.
"The purpose of that is to research and adopt regulations that would allow for safe siting of these facilities within our county. We want to identify purposeful and thoughtful locations for them. We don't want to have them in places that could pose a hazard," said Dunn.
Neighbor Michael Geller says he lives less than 1,000 feet from where developers want to break ground on the new facility. The criticism is that the proposed site is too close to existing homes, I-80 and a hospital.
"Solano County has a moratorium on these facilities. They've chosen to go directly to the state energy commission for approval rather than the typical land use process," said Geller.
NextEra Energy took the Corby Project to the California Energy Commission to approve their application, saying that it would overrule the county moratorium in light of Assembly Bill 205.
Neighbors, unhappy with the company bypassing the local ordinances, showed up at the open house meeting in protest of the project.
"It's always good to have the support of your neighbors. But it's gonna take much more than that for us to stop this," said Geller.
Anh recognized there was a mixed reaction at the meeting, but said the company wants community input and hoped to educate neighbors about the project.
"These battery storage systems are very safe. We work with reputable vendors that go through very rigorous industry testing and certification," said Anh. "It's the same battery chemistry used in your iPhone."
Anh says the facility would also bring grid reliability for the county and attract new business.
"I am glad we are doing this. We just wanted to get public feedback, incorporate that into our design," said Anh.
The next step is for the California Energy Commission to approve the project. After, a state public hearing would be held where neighbors are already planning to voice their concerns.
For Dunn, the decision should be at the local level.
"It's very disheartening and discouraging and extremely frustrating that the county is doing a phenomenal job researching this and trying to put in best practices in place, and then we have a company that's trying to back door and work around it and put their project where it makes sense for them, but not necessarily makes sense for our county," said Dunn.
A decision by the CEC is expected in the next few months.
NextEra Energy is hoping to start construction next summer and be online by 2027.