Plans to Build Another Battery Center in Goleta Put on Pause

On Monday, Goleta’s Planning Commission voted to hit pause on a proposal to build a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at a site on Viajero Drive operated by Scale Microgrids, LLC, located across Hollister Avenue from Ellwood Mesa.

Despite the project being green lit by Goleta city staff after the proposal passed an initial environmental review, the commission voted to delay the project until a citywide study on appropriate locations for utility-scale battery storage facilities is completed in April of 2027. 

The initial study for the proposal found that the Greenbark 30 Battery Energy Storage Project has no significant impact on “biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, transportation, and noise,” said Goleta Staff Planner Travis Lee. 

As Goleta and other cities across the state make the switch to renewables, the issue becomes energy storage. Unlike coal, which can be stored until burned, renewable energy generated by wind and solar have to be stored in batteries so that it can be used when needed. Building battery centers, like the proposed Greenbark BESS, adds storage capacity to Goleta’s grid, and in turn, allows for more input from renewable sources. This proposal would add up to 120 megawatt hours of storage to the grid, helping Goleta reach its goal of powering the city with 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. 

The proposed 2.1-acre Greenbark BESS facility would house 36 Tesla Megapack 2 XL units, which have a combined output power of 30 megawatts and are able to store up to 120 megawatt-hours of electricity. In layman’s terms, the center is able to power 18,000 to 30,000 Goleta homes for four hours.

The batteries within the Tesla Megapacks are made of lithium-iron phosphate, which is a battery chemistry that is more stable and has a higher ignition temperature than nickel manganese cobalt batteries used at older battery centers, like the Moss Landing BESS facility that has seen fires in 2025 and September 2026.

“Nickel magnesium cobalt batteries have a much lower threshold for ignition at closer to 180 degrees, where the lithium ion is closer to 500 degrees,” said Santa Barbara County Fire Marshal Fred Tan. 

Each of the 36 liquid-cooled units are self-contained and equipped with “battery monitoring and automatic shutdown systems, infrared fire detection, ventilation, fire hydrants, and enclosures designed to limit fire spread,” said Staff Planner Lee. If a fire were to occur in one of the units, the entire system could be shut down in a matter of seconds.  

“The battery industry has progressed rapidly in recent years for battery safety, honing in on alterations to the battery chemistry itself, the design of the units, and the regulation and oversight imposed on battery sites,” Lee said. 

The facility would be connected to Goleta’s energy grid though Southern California Edison’s substation located inside the Ellwood Generating Station, which directly neighbors the proposed site on Viajero Drive. There would be no need to lay additional transmission lines since the substation is located so close to the site.

But the proposal has raised concerns from community members due to the proximity of the site to Westmont of Santa Barbara Assisted Living Facility and Ellwood Elementary School, citing the Moss Landing BESS fires as the root of their worries. 

“There are 67 disabled very elderly seniors living here, who just experienced a fire nearby in the neighborhood that spread smoke through our building,” said Westmont resident Joanne Winter, referencing a fire that broke out along Highway 101 on September 22. Due to concerns of resident safety, Winter said “we oppose this.”

This battery center would not be a first for Goleta. In December 2023, the GridStor BESS center, located on Cortona Drive behind the Hilton Garden Inn, flipped the switch and started operations at twice the amount of megawatts of the proposed Viajero site. That center utilizes 44 Tesla Megapack battery units and produces an output of 60 megawatts of electricity, enough to power over 30,000 Goleta homes daily during peak hours. There have been no reported fires at the Gridstor facility. 

“I’ve toured the existing Goleta Energy Storage Facility on Cortona Drive. It’s twice as big as this project and three times closer to residents,” said longtime Goleta resident and Sierra Club volunteer Katie Davis. “It has zero emissions and no complaints from residents. If I lived there, I would be more worried about the proximity to the freeway and known emissions and the dangers of living near a freeway.” 

Goleta’s Planning Environmental Review Department is currently conducting a study that will designate sites across Goleta as suitable for utility-scale battery storage facilities, which is set to be completed in April of 2027. 

“We didn’t feel that we could hold up this project in order to complete that comprehensive planning effort,” said Planning & Environmental Review Director Peter Imhof. The study currently being conducted “would look at many of the same things that are being considered in the context of this project individually.” 

Despite Director Imhof’s comments, Commissioners Cary Penniman and Jennifer Fullerton both voted to put a pause on the project, leaving Commissioner Katie Maynard as the only vote in favor of moving it forward. 

For now, the vacant lot at the end of Viajero Drive will remain vacant, only with a large white board describing the proposed Greenbark 30 Battery Energy Storage Project.