Dirac: Best in Class Safety Design

They are very different kinds of projects. The La Verne batteries were paired with solar panels inside an existing Metropolitan Water District treatment plant, and their job was to power that plant. Dirac is public grid infrastructure. It connects to Southern California Edison's Chino substation and supports the regional power grid. That difference shaped everything from how each project was reviewed to where it was placed.

A full public review, and that matters for two reasons: residents had a say, and the City keeps lasting control.

Dirac needed three approvals from the City of Chino. A Special Conditional Use Permit is how the City decides whether a use belongs at a specific location, and it comes with conditions the project must meet. A Development Agreement is a binding contract that locks those commitments in for the life of the project. An environmental review studied the project's effects, including on air quality. Each was decided in public hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council, where residents could see the plans, ask questions, and speak. The result is a set of safety requirements the City can enforce for as long as Dirac operates.

At La Verne, there was no public hearing and no local land-use permit. Residents had no formal opportunity to weigh in on where it was placed, and the City has no project conditions it can hold the operator to.

About 1,100 feet. Dirac is on industrially zoned land beside the Chino substation. The national fire safety standard for battery storage sets a 10-foot minimum. At La Verne, the batteries sat roughly 144 feet from the closest residential property.

Yes. The Chino Valley Fire District was consulted on the project and, together with Chino Police, Public Works, and City Council, underwent specialized training. This gave them a hand in how the site is laid out, how it shuts down, and how they would respond in the unlikely event of an incident.

Once Dirac is operational, Aypa will pay for yearly trainings for all of those departments, so the City does not bear the cost, in compliance with NFPA 855, the national fire safety standard for battery storage. Training every year keeps that readiness sharp as staff and procedures change.

We have found no sign that the La Verne system had similar planning or responder training in place beforehand.

Dirac cannot operate until the Chino Valley Fire District signs off on an emergency plan written for this site. The plan covers early detection, shutdown, and how crews keep a problem contained to one unit. Air monitors will run around the full site 24 hours a day, giving responders the information they need to make quick decisions. Residents would be notified through the local emergency alert system.

Yes. Dirac uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP). Lithium iron phosphate is much harder to push into overheating than older generation batteries, and it gives off far less heat if a cell does fail. That gives the safety systems more time to work. This is the safest, most modern technology available on the market today.

Dirac's batteries sit in separate enclosures, spaced so an issue in one unit stays in that unit. Each enclosure has vent panels that safely release pressure before gas builds up. A concrete wall surrounds the entire site for additional protection.

The Dirac project is regulated by the most stringent city, state, and international safety codes. Dirac's safety commitments are memorialized in over 30 binding conditions with the City of Chino. These apply for the life of the project. Dirac is also required to pass national and state safety testing. If Dirac falls short, the City has enforcement authority.