Salt air, cool weather, gray skies, but what is that raining from up above? It is soot from the Moss Landing Power Plant. This was the reality from 1950 to 2016 in the area surrounding the Moss Landing Power Plant. The Moss Landing Power Plant was a combined cycle power plant located off Highway 1 in Monterey County, next to Moss Landing Harbor. Combined cycle power plants produce electricity by heating fuel and capturing energy through spinning turbine blades. After this, excess heat is captured and turned into steam, where it is diverted into a separate shaft and converted into additional electricity.
Since 1950, the power plant’s 500-foot-tall smoke stacks have served as a constant reminder of the large-scale pollution causing detrimental damage to human and marine life. Not only can the intake process kill organisms and disrupt the harbor’s ecosystem, but the extremely hot water reaches temperatures up to 100 degrees. When this water was released into the harbor, it further damages the ecosystem by heating the waters far hotter than their usual chilly temperature. This type of cooling system was eventually phased out in 2010, but that does not erase the 60 years of ill-treatment inflicted upon the Moss Landing ecosystem.
The smokestacks, which make soot rain from the sky onto the land and sea were decommissioned in the 90s. They stand, untouched, looming over moss landing as a reminder of its past.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, the Moss Landing Power Plant was transformed into the largest battery storage project in the world. These types of facilities are incredibly important in the fight against climate change, as they allow excess power to be stored. Therefore, when there are periods of time with high energy usage, such as the summer months with increased power usage due to air conditioners, and sustainable power production cannot keep up, the system can resort to using stored energy in the batteries instead of using the power grid. This means that renewable energy sources will become more reliable, and possibly more accessible because when needed, power can be drawn from batteries. Whereas without the batteries, the necessary power would be drawn from unsustainable sources. Vistra Corporation, the Fortune 500 retail energy company leading the project, reports that they will continue to expand at Moss Landing and will invest $5 billion in future projects.
Members of Generation Z are well known for being passionate about protecting the environment, and ensuring that they have a future. However, they often get overlooked in politics, as older generations in power disregard their ideas, favoring economic growth over the challenge of becoming greener. The new project cannot possibly undo the damage of the Moss Landing plant’s past, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.
