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In the wake of a catastrophic battery storage facility fire in Moss Landing in January that burned over half the batteries in a 300-megawatt (MW) installation in Monterey County, 2025 has been a rollercoaster year for Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) regulations.
Introduced within days of the Moss Landing fire, Assembly Bill (AB) 303 (Addis) would have immediately banned utility-scale BESS within 3,200 feet of sensitive receptors and removed BESS from eligibility for the California Energy Commission's (CEC) "Opt-In" permitting procedure under AB 205 (2022) (and required the CEC to deny pending applications).
As the (literal) dust settled, Governor Newsom called for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to investigate the incident. The CPUC's investigation, conducted by the Safety and Enforcement Division (SED), as well as several other agencies that investigated water and soil contamination relating to the fire, found no significant impacts. Meanwhile, the CPUC adopted modifications to its General Order (GO) 167 on March 13, 2025, adding new safety standards for BESS.
Later in March, Governor Newsom and Senator John Laird, who represents Monterey County, both issued public statements in support of Battery Energy Storage. (See California Leaders Move to Support Energy Storage | Energy Law Blog.) Shortly after, the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) held the first of a series of webinars focusing on "assessing challenges and barriers faced by local jurisdictions" in permitting BESS facilities, culminating in its draft "Clean Energy Permitting Playbook" and Toolkit.1
On November 13, 2025, Governor Newsom announced that the State has now built one-third of the energy storage capacity estimated to be needed by 2045 to meet California's clean energy goals, and it is now the first subnational to join the Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge, which sets global targets to deploy 1,500 gigawatts of energy storage.2
Meanwhile, Monterey County has continued investigating3 and the EPA is proceeding with cleanup of the Moss Landing site.4 Looking forward, updates to NFPA 855 (the Stationary Energy Storage Systems standard5) and the California Fire Code go into effect in 2026.6
For its part, the Legislature has proceeded with other efforts to ensure safe deployment of battery energy storage following the death of AB 303 in committee in April 2025.
SB 283 (Signed October 6, 2025; effective January 1, 2026)
Sen. Laird's bill, the "Clean Energy Safety Act of 2025," supports fire safety and regulatory oversight for stationary energy storage systems by:
- Requiring applicants for large energy storage projects (≥10 MWh for local, ≥200 MWh for state) to meet with local fire authorities to discuss safety, emergency plans and mitigation at least 30 days before submitting applications.
- Mandating that installations may not begin operation until inspected by fire authorities after construction, at the applicant's expense.
- Directing the State Fire Marshal to propose amendments to the next building code considered after July 1, 2026, potentially restricting the location of energy storage systems to dedicated-use noncombustible buildings or outdoor installations.
- Requiring applicants to document and summarize the fire authority consultations, and making local approvals contingent on completed inspection.
SB 283 is effective January 1, 2026, and applies Statewide, including to charter cities.
SB 254 (Signed September 19, 2025; Urgency Bill, effective upon Governor's signature)
Effective immediately as an urgency bill, SB 254 includes a number of measures to expedite clean energy projects. With respect to BESS development, this bill:
- Establishes a process for the CEC to adopt a Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for a class or classes of projects and for a public agency considering approval of a facility within the class to tier from the PEIR. Once complete, this process may help streamline applications under the CEC's Opt-In certification process or applications for BESS approvals to local agencies.
- Amends the CEC's "Opt-In" Certification Procedure
(AB 205, 2022) to:
- Allow the CEC to certify a Mitigated Negative Declaration or Negative Declaration in lieu of an EIR for an eligible facility.
- Remove the requirement that the CEC make specific findings of public convenience and necessity to certify a facility that does not conform with applicable state, local or regional standards, ordinances or laws (including zoning).
- Add a "rebuttable presumption" that the facility will have an overall net positive economic benefit to the local government.
- Requires the CEC to establish clear permit application requirements and adds specific time targets for the CEC to process applications to meet the existing target to complete environmental review within 270 days, in an apparent effort to resolve delays in the CEC finding applications to be "complete" for processing.
AB-1285 (Signed October 11, 2025; Effective January 1, 2026)
Finally, AB 1285 mandates that the State Fire Marshal, in collaboration with the Office of Emergency Services, formulate best practices for fire prevention and response specific to utility-scale lithium-ion battery storage facilities, focusing on emergency services personnel's health and safety.
In addition, AB 1285 mandates that facility owners/operators establish systems for timely and accurate sharing of information regarding incidents with local emergency managers and public safety agencies, in order to improve coordination and recovery from fire-related events at battery storage facilities.
Footnotes
3 2025 Moss Landing Vistra Power Plant Fire | County of Monterey, CA
4 Moss Landing Vistra Battery Fire Response | US EPA
5 See https://cleanpower.org/wp-content/uploads/gateway/2024/01/NFPA855_Safety_240111.pdf
6 https://www.dgs.ca.gov/bsc/codes
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