PG&E's Elkhorn battery facility, made up of 256 Tesla megapacks, automatically disconnected after a nearby Vistra battery ignited in January. Tesla began operational and safety checks in June, during which a clamp failure caused a coolant leak. The incident caused no injuries, outages, or fires. Tesla plans inspections and repairs, delaying the return-to-service date by about a year to June 30, 2026. The system will stay largely disconnected, connecting only occasionally to maintain minimum state of charge. The Elkhorn facility represents a small share of PG&E's contracted battery capacity and has not affected consumers or the grid.
PG&E's Elkhorn battery storage system, comprising 256 Tesla megapack batteries, automatically disconnected from the electrical grid when the nearby Vistra battery storage system ignited in January. The Elkhorn system remained inactive until June, when Tesla, which maintains the system, began a series of operational and safety checks in hopes of resuming operations that month. During its tests, a clamp failure in one of the megapacks caused a coolant leak.
The issue did not result in any injuries, power outages or fires, PG&E said in a statement. Tesla is now making plans for inspections and repairs, pushing the system's estimated return-to-service date back a year. In the meantime, the system will remain largely disconnected from the grid, connecting occasionally to maintain a minimum state of charge and avoid damaging the batteries, said Paul Doherty, a PG&E representative.
Battery energy storage facilities are designed to store energy that can then be used later. They're often used to integrate renewable energy resources into the electricity grid allowing the use of solar energy at night, for example. The Elkhorn system makes up a relatively small percentage of PG&E's contracted battery storage capacity, so its inactivity hasn't had effects on the electricity grid or on consumers, according to Doherty.
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