Elon Musk Denies Tesla's Involvement In Fire At Moss Landing Power Plant In Monterey County

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk on Friday denied the involvement of the company’s Megapack energy storage product in the fire that broke out at a 750 MW Moss Landing battery storage facility on Thursday.

What Happened: “This fire has nothing to do with Tesla and our Megapacks are operating well,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, while adding that media reports alleging otherwise are “false.”

Why It Matters: The fire at the facility reportedly started at 3 p.m. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office subsequently issued evacuation orders for areas around the facility.

The battery facility in question is operated by Vistra Energy, an integrated retail electricity and power generation company based in Irving, Texas.

Pacific Gas & Electric's Elkhorn battery facility located at Moss Landing, however, houses a Megapack system that caught fire in the second half of 2022. The two facilities are located nearby, likely spurring the rumors of the fire being associated with Tesla.

Megapack is a powerful battery manufactured by Tesla. Each megapack unit can store over 3.9 Megawatt-hours of energy or enough to power an average of 3,600 homes for an hour.

Vistra Energy did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment on the status of the fire.

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