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Pre-RFP: San Vicente Energy Storage RFP to be Advertised Next Month

/in , , /by /New Project Media by Jillian Farmer Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Vicente Energy Storage Facility RFP will be advertised starting next month, according to the San Diego County Water Authority. This will allow bidders time to prepare proposals for submission in November.

The joint RFP is being issued by the San Diego County Water Authority, and the City of San Diego, California, and is seeking a private sector partner for the 500 MW pumped energy storage project.

According to Gary Bousquet, the director of engineering at San Diego County Water Authority, the project is a proposed closed-loop pumped storage facility and is “essential to California achieving its renewable and clean energy goals established by Senate Bill 100.”

Recognizing the need for large-scale storage, Bousquet explained, the California FY22/23 budget includes USD 18 million “to advance the development of this facility.”

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San Diego Gets State Funding for Ocean Beach Pier Repairs, Energy Storage, Pure Water Program

/in , , /by /10 News San Diegoby Mark Saunders Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A windfall of state funding is coming to San Diego, including money for Ocean Beach Pier repairs, an energy-storage project at San Vicente Reservoir, and the city’s Pure Water program.

Money from California’s state budget, signed last week, will fund the series of San Diego projects and programs.

“The dollars that San Diego is receiving from the state will upgrade critical infrastructure, help us fight homelessness, ensure a reliable supply of clean water, enhance our arts and culture and much more,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said.

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San Vicente Energy Storage Facility Powers Ahead with $18M Boost

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

A large-scale renewable energy project proposed jointly by the City of San Diego and the San Diego County Water Authority received $18 million in the state budget signed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, enough to advance the San Vicente Energy Storage Facility through initial design, environmental reviews, and the federal licensing process.

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San Vicente Energy Storage Facility Powers Ahead with $18M Boost

/in , /by

July 16, 2021 – A large-scale renewable energy project proposed jointly by the City of San Diego and the San Diego County Water Authority received $18 million in the state budget signed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, enough to advance the San Vicente Energy Storage Facility through initial design, environmental reviews, and the federal licensing process.

The San Vicente energy project is one of the most promising pumped energy storage solutions in California and it would be a major asset to help avoid rolling blackouts through on-demand energy production while helping to meet state climate goals. It also could mitigate costs for water ratepayers across the San Diego region by generating additional revenue to help offset the cost of water purchases, storage, and treatment. The City and the Water Authority are developing the project together, just like they did to raise the height of the city-owned San Vicente Dam 117 feet in the 2010s

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“Water Battery” Being Considered on Mokelumne River

/in , , /by /Sierra Nevada Allyby Scott King

Earlier this year, GreenGenStorage received a renewal of their licensing period to submit Pre-Application Documents to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for their proposed Mokelumne Pumped Storage Water Battery Project. The developer hopes to submit their PAD by the end of the year for the project, which would utilize excess solar and wind energy to power their pumped storage technology, thereby generating electricity for the grid at peak energy-usage hours.

“During the midday peak of solar energy generation, we would pump water uphill to an upper reservoir,” Nicholas Sher, manager at GreenGenStorage said. “Then in the evening where energy usage is consumed the most, we would release that water downstream and it would drive a turbine, thus generating energy. Then by soaking up wind power in the evenings for release in the morning peak hours, we’re essentially just time-shifting renewable energy.”

By using renewable energy to transfer water back and forth between two reservoirs, the project would be a non-consumptive means of using water to generate power. In the case of the Mokelumne Pumped Storage Water Battery Project, the Salt Springs Reservoir has been identified as the lower reservoir, as it already has a small hydro-facility on it that generates about 44 megawatts of energy.

Two options are currently being explored for the upper reservoir that Salt Springs would be connected to via penstock pipes: the Lower Bear or Upper Bear Reservoir.

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Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, AES Pursue Nation’s First Solar-Powered Pumped Hydro Project

/in , , /by /Utility Diveby Robert Walton

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative and AES Corp. have executed and filed a power purchase agreement with Hawaii regulators to develop a solar-powered pumped hydro storage project the utility says will bring its total resource mix above 80% renewables. The West Kauai Energy Project could come online in 2024.

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To Batteries and Beyond: In a High-Renewables World, Pumped Hydro Storage Could Be “the Heavy Artillery”

/in , , /by /Utility Diveby Kavya Balaraman

Around three or four years ago, Jim Day, CEO of Daybreak Power, came across a Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) study that listed dozens of locations around the country that could be viable for pumped hydro storage projects.

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California to Let Gas Plants Stay Open as Time Runs Low for Climate Action

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

State officials threw a lifeline to four fossil fueled power plants along the Southern California coast, deciding the facilities are still needed to provide reliable electricity even as they contribute to the climate crisis.

Tuesday’s vote by the State Water Resources Control Board to let the gas plants keep operating past the end of this year followed brief rolling blackouts over two evenings last month, as a heat wave caused air conditioning demand to soar, and California found itself short on electricity supplies.

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Opinion: Blackouts Expose Need for Expanding Energy Storage

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Daily Newsby Jim Madaffer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The sad reality is that the blackouts rolling across California this past week were both predictable and avoidable. The silver lining is that future blackouts across California are avoidable – if we invest in large-scale energy storage projects to provide on-demand power.

Energy analysts have warned for years that California’s embrace of renewable energy sources – while laudable – create significant risks that can and should be addressed to sustain our economy and quality of life while maintaining progress toward the state’s climate goals. What no one could have known was that we’d be roiled by a pandemic and a recession when the energy grid’s weaknesses were exposed for everyone to see.

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Coupling Pumped Hydro With Renewables and Other Storage Technologies

/in , , /by /pv magazine by Emiliano Bellini Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The combination of pumped hydro with other storage technologies can increase renewables penetration, improve operational safety and reduce maintenance costs at large-scale hydropower plants, according to new research. The study also focuses on techniques to determine the optimal size of renewables-based pumped hydro storage systems.

Pumped hydro is highly cost competitive as a large-scale energy storage solution, according to a recent report by the San Diego County Water Authority. The higher capital costs of pumped storage technology versus battery storage are outweighed by the longer lifetime of pumped storage, which gives it a lower levelized cost, the authority said.

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