County battery storage rules in Campo on Aug. 24 as public review of draft ordinance continues

By Karen Pearlman

(Campo) — In the midst of grave concerns and myriad questions across San Diego County about the safety of battery energy storage systems (BESS) — especially in rural areas of the county where there is high fire danger — county planning staff will present the county’s draft ordinance to regulate the storage systems to the Campo Lake Morena Community Planning Group tonight (Aug. 24).

The presentation at 7 p.m. at the Mountain Empire Community Center is part of a public review process that continues with two upcoming virtual meetings (including one this Thursday) before the rules go to the County Planning Commission and ultimately to the County Board of Supervisors next year.

The meeting at the community center at 976 Sheridan Road, is a discussion-only item and according to the planning group’s agenda, a county staffer (scheduled to be Mike Madrid) will walk the community planning group through the BESS Zoning Ordinance Amendment.

Top photo shows Gateway Energy Facility in Otay Mesa, courtesy Google images

The presentation comes as the county’s Planning & Development Services department works through a multi-year process to give BESS — banks of batteries, often paired with solar or wind farms, that store electricity for later use — its own zoning category for the first time.

BESS facilities typically charge during the day, when solar generation is plentiful, and discharge in the evening as demand rises, a function state officials say has become increasingly important during summer heatwaves, when electricity usage spikes and grid operators must avoid rolling blackouts.

Some BESS practices background

The county currently has no zoning standards specific to battery storage, leaving fire safety oversight largely in the hands of the county fire chief under interim guidelines adopted two years ago.

The Board of Supervisors directed PDS to develop the standards in July 2024, after a wave of high-profile battery fires — including a 17-day blaze at the Gateway Energy Storage Station in Otay Mesa in May 2024 and a fire that triggered evacuations in Escondido that September — fueled calls from residents across the county for a moratorium on new projects.

The board rejected a countywide moratorium, opting instead for interim fire safety guidelines developed by the San Diego County Fire Protection District, which require large-scale BESS projects to maintain a 100-foot setback from lot lines, undergo large-scale fire testing, and submit hazard mitigation and plume modeling reports, among other measures.

At the state level, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 283 in 2025, requiring battery storage developers to engage directly with local fire authorities on facility design, risk assessment and emergency response planning — a requirement that meshes with the county’s own push to formalize fire district review through the zoning ordinance.

Escondido’s own moratorium, adopted after the September 2024 SDG&E battery fire, ended last month, when the City Council voted 5-0 to adopt guidelines modeled closely on the county’s. The new rules require any BESS project in the city to include fire suppression and explosion control systems and maintain a minimum 100-foot setback from property lines.

Those standards closely track the county’s own draft ordinance now that is being shared with constituents in Campo Lake Morena as well as with other community planning groups.

The Supervisors received a BESS Best Practices Report in December 2024 and affirmed the county fire chief’s authority to impose stricter rules on BESS facilities without more board approval, while PDS began a process of writing zoning standards.

A public review draft of the ordinance was released in August 2026.

Standards would apply to any project with battery storage capacity of more than 600 kilowatt-hours and sorts facilities into three tiers based on storage capacity and site acreage.

Tier 1 covers projects up to 80 megawatt-hours or 5 acres; Tier 2 covers projects up to 400 MWh or 10 acres; and Tier 3 covers anything above those thresholds. (Depending on tier and zoning designation, projects would require either a Site Plan Review, a Minor Use Permit or a Major Use Permit.)

The draft also sets a base setback of 100 feet from lot lines for any structure housing batteries — or a greater distance if required by the fire authority having jurisdiction — along with screening, lighting, noise and signage standards. It also requires developers to submit a decommissioning plan and post financial assurance for facility removal before any construction permit is issued.

Heated backcountry concerns

For East County communities in particular the ordinance’s outcome carries a lot of power.

Boulevard has spent the past year fighting the proposed Starlight Solar project, a nearly 600-acre solar array paired with a 217-megawatt battery storage system that the Planning Commission approved 7-0 in July over strong community opposition.

Many in the backcountry community have shared they they feel that they are being treated as “sacrifice zones” for renewable energy infrastructure serving coastal cities, and have raised concerns about a sole-source groundwater aquifer, limited evacuation routes and the distance to specialized hazardous materials response units, as East County Magazine has previously reported. In July, the County Planning Commission unanimously approved a major use permit for Starlight Solar.

Campo, Lake Morena and other backcountry communities sit within the same fire-prone terrain and share similar concerns about evacuation capacity and emergency response times.

More meetings ahead

The county will hold two additional virtual public meetings covering all the same material on the draft ordinance:

Noon, Thursday, Aug. 27, via Zoom: us06web.zoom.us/j/83821996822
6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 17,  via Zoom: us06web.zoom.us/j/87632623299

Both meetings are part of the “Public Review of Draft Ordinance” phase, which county planners say is expected to continue through fall 2026, followed by a “Refine Draft Ordinance” phase this winter incorporating community feedback. M

Public hearings before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors are tentatively scheduled for winter or spring 2027, ahead of final adoption.

Residents can submit comments or questions at engage.sandiegocounty.gov/battery-energy-storage-systems, contact Planning & Development Services at [email protected] or call (858) 505-6677.