North County residents attend safety workshop for controversial proposed battery storage site
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) – North County residents on Wednesday attended a workshop about a controversial proposed battery storage site that sits near Escondido and San Marcos.
“Nobody wants it,” Dr. Bill Porter said.
About 2,500 community members have signed a petition against the project and covered their neighborhoods with signs showing their opposition to the Seguro battery energy storage facility.
“We are not against renewable energy, we are against the location,” said Dr. Porter, whose 88-year-old mother has to drive through the property to get to her home.
The proposed site is about 22 acres along Country Club Drive in unincorporated San Diego County.
“We live mere feet away from the boundary of this property and so we’re very worried for our safety, the safety of our family, safety of our livestock,” Andy Laderman said.
Representatives from AES Corporation, which owns the site and submitted an application for the project, hosted a workshop centered on safety Wednesday evening.
“The way the industry has progressed over the last 20 years has been huge improvements. The codes and standards are revised on an annual basis. They improve how these projects are designed and how they perform in situations,” said Max Guarniere, development manager for AES Corporation.
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Renderings show each of the battery storage units would be roughly the size of a shipping container. The facility would have enough stored energy to power nearly 250,000 homes for four hours. The project size has been reduced by about 20% since first filing the application.
Still, there are substantial concerns coming from the community.
“It’s a residential community, it’s not an industrial community. It’s already a community that’s on edge because it’s a very high fire severity zone,” said JP Theberge, vice chair of the Elfin Forest Harmony Grove Town Council.
“There’s been several cases of fires, anything from cell phones all the way up through scooters, to these battery energy facilities,” Laderman said.
AES says there would be multiple stages of fire and hazard mitigation in place and that these types of projects help alleviate energy demand, especially in California.
“Very strict clean energy goals, trying to decarbonize the grid and to get to 100% clean energy by 2045. We need facilities like this,” Guarniere said.
The last workshop will take place on May 7 at 6 p.m. at the San Marcos Community Center and it will be focused on the environment.
The project is in the process of its environmental impact report, which will welcome public input once published.
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