ESCONDIDO — The city has formally adopted San Diego County’s safety guidelines for battery energy storage systems into its fire code, adding new requirements for setbacks, emergency response costs and post-fire investigations nearly two years after imposing a moratorium on new commercial battery storage projects.
The City Council voted unanimously July 29 to adopt the guidelines for battery energy storage systems, or BESS, as part of an update to the city’s fire code.
The ordinance requires a 100-foot setback from property lines where BESS facilities are adjacent to residential, educational or institutional uses. Facility owners must also reimburse the Escondido Fire Department for costs associated with emergency responses at their sites.
Following a fire, the ordinance requires a cause-and-origin investigation by the fire chief or an approved third party, with the facility owner responsible for the cost.
The ordinance follows nearly two years of debate in Escondido over the safety of large-scale battery storage facilities.
The City Council first weighed in on growing local concerns over potential BESS fire hazards in August 2024, adopting a resolution opposing large-scale projects within or near the city.
At the time, the resolution was mainly in response to AES Corporation’s proposed Seguro Energy Storage project in nearby Eden Valley, which has since been withdrawn.
About a week later, a fire broke out at a San Diego Gas & Electric BESS facility in Escondido, heightening local concerns over the facilities.
A month after the fire, the City Council approved an interim urgency ordinance prohibiting new commercial BESS projects within the city for 45 days. The moratorium was later extended to give staff more time to study the potential impacts of the facilities.
In May 2025, the council agreed to incorporate San Diego County’s recommended BESS best practices into the city’s fire code and directed staff to develop minimum workforce safety standards.
Those proposed workforce standards included requiring certified electricians holding C-10 licenses to perform electrical work and requiring at least 15% of certified electricians performing electrical work on-site to have an ESAMTAC certification.
The city again extended its BESS moratorium last October while it waited to adopt the county guidelines. The moratorium was set to expire Oct. 15.
The ordinance approved July 29 formally incorporates the county’s BESS guidelines into Escondido’s local fire code amendment. However, staff’s initial recommendation did not include the broader workforce standards previously requested by the council because those requirements extend beyond the scope of the fire code, according to Fire Marshal La Vona Koretke.
“Part of the challenge is this is a bit of a labor issue and outside of the expertise of the fire code,” Koretke said.
Koretke said staff would continue working with the county to establish workforce standards, with the intention of bringing an update back to the City Council within six months.
Several members of the public urged the council not to separate workforce requirements from the new BESS safety regulations.
Cori Schumacher, a representative of IBEW Local 569 and a former Carlsbad City Council member, noted that the fire at the SDG&E facility occurred months after C-10 licensed workers were pulled from maintenance work there.
Schumacher also encouraged Escondido to adopt requirements similar to San Marcos’ battery energy storage guidelines and workforce standards, which require C-10 licensed contractors.
Ultimately, the City Council agreed to add the C-10 license requirement to the ordinance while allowing staff to return at a later date with a more comprehensive set of workforce standards.
“I would prefer not to wait for workforce safety standards to come back in six months,” Mayor Dane White said.
