Tuesday night, the City Council voted on a resolution to oppose the Seguro Lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage (BESS) project just east of San Elijo and Coronado Hills and south of the mobile home park near La Moree. The 23-acre site in Eden Valley proposes one of the largest battery energy facilities in the state and the only one of its size being proposed in a residential area. It is highly controversial given the multiple fires that have occurred at these facilities recently. These industrial-scale facilities are typically sited in industrial areas, so seeing one in a neighborhood is unprecedented. 4,500 people have signed the petition opposing it. www.stopseguro.org for more info.
The resolution was put forth by Deputy Mayor Jenkins and co-sponsored by Council Member Sannella. Reportedly, a San Elijo resident had reached out to Maria Nuñez earlier in the day and asked her what her thoughts were on the resolution. She stated that she didn’t have enough information to support it, but would wait until the council had a chance to discuss it.
Given the last-minute notice, there was a decent-sized group supporting the resolution (opposing the location of the proposed project). The speakers were heartfelt but also provided some technical background. One speaker, a former developer of battery energy storage projects and engineer (Joe Rowley), said that as a professional, he was concerned that the project was very poorly sited and should be in a more industrial area away from homes due to the risk of “thermal runaway.”…