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A major fire broke out Thursday at one of the world's largest battery storage plants.The facility, in Moss Landing, northern California, stores energy for general use as part of the state grid, and is a significant part of California's efforts to use cleaner energy.It caught fire Thursday afternoon, officials in Monterey County said, prompting evacuation orders for more than 2,000 people.A Monterey County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told the local news channel KSBW 8 that 40% of the battery plant had burned.A law enforcement spokesperson told CNN that concerns around chemical spills and hazardous material burning had prompted broad evacuation orders....snip...Monterey...

MOSS LANDING, Calif. — A fire has been confirmed at the Vistra Power Plant in Moss Landing on Thursday which is forcing evacuations and closing roads in the area.

As the smoke clears from devastating Los Angeles wildfires, efforts to clean up the affected areas are being complicated by burnt-out electric and hybrid vehicles and home-battery storage systems. Lithium batteries from Tesla Inc., along with those from other carmakers, have added to the mix of toxic materials requiring specialized removal in the wake of the fires, delaying the fire victims’ return to their properties. “A lot of the cars in the evacuation area were lithium batteries,” said Jacqui Irwin, a state assembly member representing the Pacific Palisades, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the fires. “We’ve heard from...

MOSS LANDING, Calif. — A fire has been confirmed at the Vistra Power Plant in Moss Landing on Thursday which is forcing evacuations and closing roads in the area. The fire was reported shortly after 3 p.m. The building was evacuated when the fire started. The county of Monterey sent the following message to residents in the area: "North County Fire Department is currently responding to a fire at Moss Landing Power Plant. Out of an abundance of caution, the fire department urges residents in Zones MRY-B047 and MRY-B053 to close windows and doors and shut off air systems until...

On November 13, 2022, about 1530 local time, a fire started on the bridge of the oil tanker S-Trust while the vessel was docked at the Genesis Port Allen Terminal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.1 Fire teams from the vessel’s crew extinguished the fire about 1550. There were no injuries, and no pollution was reported. The damage to the vessel was estimated at $3 million. 1.1 Background The S-Trust was a Liberian-flagged, 800-foot-long, steel-hulled liquid bulk cargo vessel (oil tanker) owned by New Trend Ltd and operated by Stalwart Management Ltd. The vessel was built in 2005 and had a cargo...

E-bikes and e-scooters have flooded New York City’s streets in recent years, embraced by delivery workers and commuters as an economical and efficient new way to get around. But even as the devices have become nearly ubiquitous, the batteries inside them have made New York City an epicenter for a new kind of ferocious and fast-moving fire. These fires are “uniquely dangerous,” warned Laura Kavanagh, the city’s fire commissioner. With little or no warning, the batteries can ignite, leaving seconds for people to escape. In just three years, lithium battery fires have tied electrical fires and have surpassed blazes started...

Jacksonville, Fl — A man and his two kids were able to escape a house fire early this morning in the eTown area, just south of Atlantic Coast High School. It’s believed the fire started as a result of an overheated lithium battery in a golf cart that was plugged into the garage. The man in the home said he woke up when he heard the batteries explode.

Saindy Pyles thought she was going to die with her baby son, Liam, clutched to her chest as she flew home to Wichita from Miami after photographing a wedding. Midway through the flight Pyles said smoke filled the cabin after she saw sparks and fire burst from a bag in the seat directly behind her. "Honestly, I thought we were going to die," she said. "I looked and all I saw was flashes, just like flashes. I'm like, 'Oh my God, like, what is that?' And [the owner of the bag] is like, 'I don't know. I don't know.'" "Then...

p>The National Fire Protection Association is a globally-recognized nonprofit, and an authoritative source on fire prevention — the organization is often tapped by legislative bodies and administrative states for rules and regulations recommendations. Speaking to the danger of e-bikes, the NFPA writes the following:Most e-bikes and e-scooters are powered by lithium-ion batteries. This is the same type of battery that powers many of today’s electric vehicles, cell phones, laptops, and power tools. When lithium-ion batteries are damaged, they can overheat, catch on fire, and even lead to explosions. When fires occur, they also tend to burn very hot and can...

With the number of fires caused by lithium batteries soaring across the U.S., firefighters and other experts say the training needed to fight them effectively is lagging in many places. Firefighters and city officials are also imploring the manufacturers to redesign the batteries so that, when they fail, the resulting fires can be put down more easily. Kerber said his team has run tests on lithium-ion batteries in which it took only 15 seconds from the first sign of smoke to the windows being blown out in a house. In a traditional fire, it typically takes about three minutes for...

A federal judge in Los Angeles on Friday dismissed the criminal indictment against a dive boat captain charged with manslaughter in the deaths of 34 people when the vessel caught fire and sank off the California coast three years ago. The 75-foot (23-meter) Conception caught fire while most of those onboard were sleeping, killing 33 passengers and a crew member. It is considered one of California’s worst maritime disasters. U.S. District Judge George Wu said in a ruling that the indictment, handed down on December 2020 against captain Jerry Nehl Boylan by a federal grand jury, must be thrown out...

Hamden FD, Facebook photo of the burning electric bus in CT Connecticut’s governor Ned Lamont and Senator Chris Murphy spent $25.7 million on a project to replace buses with electric buses. Twelve were delivered, and one went ablaze just sitting, parked, engine turned off, and with no one in it. The federal taxpayers fully paid for the project. According to CT Insider, they received a dozen with ten more on the way, but they’re all pulled from service over the bus going ablaze due to a lithium battery fire. It’s “out of an abundance of caution,” said the spokesperson. Nothing...

A new paper presents a stable lithium-metal battery design for the first time. Lithium-ion batteries have flaws that lithium-metal batteries could fix. This new battery adds a self-healing technology that will close cracks where dendrites form. Lithium-ion batteries are the backbone of most of today’s electronic devices, including electric vehicles. But for all of their game-changing benefits, the batteries still have an inherent flaw: dendrites. These thin, snaking, tree-like pieces of lithium form sharp points and end up piercing the battery, causing short circuits and other problems. This ultimately shortens the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries, and leaves major room for...

LOS ANGELES — One of the crew members aboard the dive boat Conception hadn’t been asleep long when a noise jolted him awake. He swung open the door of the wheelhouse — the top level of the 75-foot boat, located just above the galley — and was greeted by flames. As the fire raged in the predawn hours of Labor Day, the vessel’s captain made a frantic mayday call to the Coast Guard. Then he and four crew members jumped from the wheelhouse and climbed into a dinghy to get help from the Grape Escape, a fishing boat anchored nearby...

CARSON CITY — Independent auditors concluded Tesla Motors Inc. met all conditions for tax abatements and credits during the eight months after lawmakers approved the perks in a special 2014 legislative session. The audit by accounting firm Grant Thornton calculated Tesla has earned $9.6 million in transferable tax credits for the period Oct. 17, 2014, through June 30. Tesla, in partnership with Panasonic Corp., is building a $5 billion lithium battery factory east of Reno in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. To lure the electric carmaker led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to Nevada, state lawmakers last year approved $1.3...

Tesla Just Took Its First Step Toward Obliterating The Power Companies By Rob Wile 19 hours ago   View photo. Elon Musk just announced details of Tesla's plan to start pumping out lithium ion batteries like M&Ms at its planned "Gigafactory." Obviously, it's big news for electric vehicles as this should bring down the cost of a very expensive component.But it has equal and possibly greater significance for renewable energy.We've explained that power storage is the key to unlocking widespread renewable energy. For renewables to be truly cost competitive with existing power sources, they need to be able to provide a...

Tesla May Raise the Green Bar With New Battery Factory Eric Schaal | More Articles February 22, 2014 As is often the case with Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA), expectations for the electric car company’s battery factory are sky-high. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk recently noted that the soon-to-launch factory would produce more lithium-ion batteries than all other sources on earth combined. In fact, word that the factory will be powered by sun and wind helps Tesla toward its stated goal of changing the sustainability quotient of the auto industry and thus U.S. culture as a whole.Musk’s appearances at town-hall-style meetings in Europe in...

Energy independence, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, lower fuel costs: All of these promises are factors behind the rise in electric vehicles' popularity. Unfortunately, they're more fiction than fact. Here's why, and how it could affect companies like Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA  ) .Do you want cancer with that battery?Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy undertook a study to look at the environmental impact of lithium-ion batteries for EVs. The study showed that batteries that use cathodes with nickel and cobalt, as well as solvent-based electrode processing, have the highest potential for environmental impacts, including...

Stanford scientists have developed inexpensive silicon-based electrodes that dramatically improve the charge storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries. An illustration of a new battery electrode made from a composite of hydrogel and silicon nanoparticles (Si NP). Each Si NP is encapsulated in a conductive polymer surface coating and connected to a three-dimensional hydrogel framework. Stanford University scientists have dramatically improved the performance of lithium-ion batteries by creating novel electrodes made of silicon and conducting polymer hydrogel, a spongy substance similar to the material used in soft contact lenses and other household products. Writing in the June 4 edition of the journal...

Based on this morning's quarterly earnings call, the financial numbers are pointing in the wrong direction for lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems, a company founded 10 years ago based on technology developed at an MIT lab. A123 posted a net loss of $125 million, $40 million more than it lost in the previous quarter. It only brought in $11 million in revenue, down from $40 million in the previous quarter and $18 million a year ago. Meanwhile, its cash is dwindling, down from $187 million at the end of last year to $113 million at the end of the first...