Jul. 2—The Canadian company behind a compressed-air energy storage proposal in eastern Kern is asking state regulators for more time to work out and possibly relocate the $1 billion-plus project in response to unfavorable geological findings and other potential concerns.
The latest complications can be addressed, an executive at Toronto-based Hydrostor emphasized, and he insisted the company remains committed to siting the project inside the county. A pause in the California Energy Commission's review process, he said, would allow more time for the company to optimize what it sees as its global flagship.
"We remain fully committed, believe me, to Kern County and this project," said Curt Hildebrand, the senior vice president leading Hydrostor's development efforts. "It's easier to pause the process now than it is later."
The Willow Rock Energy Storage Center would inject air deep underground to be stored under hydrostatic pressure. Then, when renewable energy sources come offline and the state power grid calls for electricity, compressed air released upward would power turbines feeding electricity, through nearby interconnections, to electric transmission lines.
State officials are anxious for projects like Willow Rock that can help balance California's energy supply by delivering large amounts of stored electrical power for up to eight hours at a time — at least double the duration of most utility-scale battery storage projects. Hydrostor hopes to win a state subsidy in the tens of millions of dollars.
Hydrostor has proposed a 500-megawatt, 4,000-megawatt-hour facility near Rosamond that would power about 400,000 homes for eight hours, making it the largest project of its kind. The company has estimated construction would employ 800 people at peak then provide permanent jobs for the equivalent of 25 to 40 full-time workers.
Already the company has announced a $250 million commitment from Goldman Sachs, as well as a 25-year, $1 billion agreement to sell 40% of its energy storage capacity to Monterey-based Central Coast Community Energy.
A June 23 memo by staff at the energy commission said work has begun internally on a preliminary assessment of data from the project applicant, a local subsidiary of Hydrostor. It said the company is working to finish a geotechnical evaluation and a survey of biological resources, the results of which are "expected to result in project description changes."
The memo noted Hydrostor is looking at alternative facility configurations, cavern engineering options and alternate sites. The company gave no definite timeline for selecting the best path forward, staff reported as it recommended a committee of the CEC approve a pause in active work on the review. The idea is to resume the review after Hydrostor submits a new proposal with the geological and engineering reports necessary to "confirm site viability for the next iteration of the project design and location."