A battery storage facility proposed for South Orange County won’t get built after residents spent years protesting the project, claiming it would be too close to homes and arguing it would pose too great of a wildfire risk.
The company proposing the project officially withdrew their application last month after pressing pause on the facility as they looked for different site options.
Compass Energy Storage, the company behind the proposal, withdrew their application to the California Energy Commission on Sept. 1.
Their notice said the company wasn’t able to find a suitable location for the battery storage facility within their budget.
“This notice is based on the inability to locate an alternative suitable site in proximity to the point of interconnect and due to changed economic conditions associated with the Project,” reads the notice, signed by Ricky Davis, vice president of Compass Energy.
The project would have created a facility on 13 acres of land on the northern edge of San Juan Capistrano with lithium-iron-phosphate batteries connected to the energy grid to store excess power and release it back into the grid when necessary.
These facilities — known as Battery Energy Storage Systems — are generally viewed by supporters as a positive step toward clean energy solutions since the batteries can help store and provide surplus energy, helping reduce the need for additional fossil fuel generation at high-need times.
But similar facilities have also turned into fire hazards elsewhere within the state.
A battery storage facility known as Moss Landing in California’s Monterey County ignited in January 2025, causing the evacuation of about 1,500 residents and complaints of health concerns like headaches, coughing and sore throats.
There have also been multiple fires at battery energy storage facilities in San Diego County over the past few years, including at the Terra-Gen facility in Valley Center, the Gateway Energy facility in Otay Mesa and at the SDG&E facility in Escondido.
A resident group known as BLESSIN — Ban Lithium Energy Storage Systems in Neighborhoods — spent years railing against the project proposed in OC, arguing the proposal would create a severe wildfire risk near schools and homes.
During the Laguna Niguel City Council meeting on Oct. 6, Mayor Gene Johns commended several of the group’s leaders for successfully killing the project.
“That was a 13-acre facility they were going to build — 1,500 feet away from homes here in Laguna Niguel,” Johns told members of the resident group during the meeting.
“Because of your efforts, you put together a great group of people with great knowledge, and you fought a $80 billion worldwide company and showed them it was unsafe and it didn’t belong here.”
Assemblymember Laurie Davies also attended the meeting to commend the community for their efforts.
“These are community superheroes,” Davies said.
“You came together and we were able to get the California Energy Commission to actually come here,” she said. “When they left, they said this was the most respectful community.”
The San Juan Capistrano City Council voted multiple times to prohibit the construction of new commercial energy storage systems after the applicant previously submitted requests at the city level.
After the city rejected the project, the applicant turned to the state instead, filing an application through the California Energy Commission, which had the power to bypass the city’s previous rulings and approve the project.
A host of elected officials also spoke out against the project, including Supervisor Katrina Foley, Rep. Mike Levin, Assemblymember Diane Dixon and San Juan Capistrano city leaders.
Cathleen Pryor, BLESSIN president, said the group supports clean energy but only when community members are engaged within the planning process to ensure safety for families and homes.
“We support responsible clean energy development,” Pryor said. “At the same time, clean energy infrastructure must be carefully evaluated and appropriately located.”
“Residents should never be excluded from decisions affecting the safety of their homes, animals, families, evacuation routes, open spaces and quality of life.”
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
