Plans for a second battery energy storage facility will be brought before the Menifee Planning Commission during a public hearing on April 22.
The Double Butte Battery Energy Storage System is proposed for a site south of Matthews Road and west of Palomar Road, next to the current Nova Power Bank, which was constructed in 2024 on the former site of a gas combustion plant.
Nova, a 680-megawatt facility, is one of the world’s largest battery energy storage systems. It is capable of powering 680,000 homes for 4 hours and includes 1,200 containers with lithium-ion batteries on a 42-acre site. The Double Butte facility will be somewhat smaller, planned as a 500-megawatt plant on 27 acres.
Facilities such as this are part of a statewide initiative to emphasize renewable electricity sources. The batteries store electricity generated by solar power for use in night-time hours.
“This proposed facility will interconnect with the nearby Valley Substation that is owned and operated by Southern California Edison,” states a legal notice released by the City of Menifee regarding the public hearing. “The primary electrical equipment includes battery modules and power conversion equipment. The battery modules will be racked (akin to server racks) within hundreds of modular, external access-only containers that will connect to associated electrical equipment. Each container is approximately 8 to 10 feet tall and would be located within a metal framed outdoor-rated storage container with insulation and robust thermal management systems.”
Critics of such facilities point to incidents in which battery plants have caught fire. A fire at an Escondido battery storage plant in September 2024 forced the evacuation of nearby businesses out of concern that toxic chemicals would be released into the air. In January 2025, a similar type of fire burned for hours at a battery energy storage facility in northern California.
Officials say lithium-ion battery fires are extremely difficult to extinguish, requiring massive amounts of water over an extended period of time.
The project will include a 7-foot wall along the plant boundary. An estimated 12 permanent onsite workers will be employed there.
According to City of Menifee Communications Director Phil Southard, the City will receive a “community benefit fee” of approximately $4 million for the Double Butte project. The City received approximately $6.5 million for the Nova Power Bank project.
“There will also be ongoing revenue from property tax and sales tax for equipment on the site,” Southard said.
The legal notice posted by the City of Menifee includes the following:
The [Environmental] Mitigated Negative Declaration is being circulated for a 30-day review period pursuant to state law. The public review period will start on March 13, 2026 and close on April 13, 2026. All comments on the IS/MND must be submitted in writing to the address or e-mail provided below and received by Monday, April 13, 2026. The IS/MND can be found at the following web address: https://www.cityofmenifee.us/325/Environmental-Notices-Documents.
Any person wishing to comment on the proposed project may do so in writing between the date of this notice and the public hearing and be heard at the time and place noted above. All comments must be received prior to the time of public hearing. All such comments will be submitted to the Planning Commission, and the Planning Commission will consider such comments, in addition to any oral testimony, before making a decision on the proposed project.
If this project is challenged in court, the issues may be limited to those raised at the public hearing, described in this notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the Planning Commission at, or prior to, the public hearing. Be advised that as a result of public hearings and comment, the Planning Commission may amend, in whole or in part, the proposed project. Accordingly, the designations, development standards, design or improvements, or any properties or lands within the boundaries of the proposed project, may be changed in a way other than specifically proposed.
For further information regarding this project, please contact Ryan Fowler at 951-723-3740 or e-mail rfowler@cityofmenifee.us, or go to the City of Menifee’s agenda web page at http://www.cityofmenifee.us. To view the case file for the proposed project, contact the Community Development Department office at 951-672-6777 Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please send all written correspondence to:
CITY OF MENIFEE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
Attn: Ryan Fowler, Planning Manager
29844 Haun Road
Menifee, CA 92586
