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Just days after the California Energy Commission announced the first application in the state for storage using compressed air, another long-term storage proposal advanced: a 500 MW project that would use pumped storage at the San Vicente Reservoir in eastern San Diego County. The City of San Diego and the San Diego Water Authority board have begun negotiations with BHE Kiewit, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, on the financing and building terms for the estimated $1.5 billion pumped storage facility. The city and the water agency also approved two contracts totaling $6.2 million for an environmental impact analysis and for preparation of an interconnection agreement with the grid operator plus a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, all on Jan. 27. This phase, involving the analysis under state and federal environmental quality acts, and rate recovery approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is expected to take about four years. “The San Vicente Energy Storage Facility Project meets multiple goals for the San Diego region, including protection from blackouts and supporting climate-friendly energy sources,” said Water Authority Board Chair Gary Croucher. If approved, it is projected to be online by 2030. This battery storage-like project has been in the works for several years, ever since the 2,200 MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station sprung a radioactive leak and was shut down. In July 2013, the two local agencies released a request for proposals for a new reservoir, and tunnels to accommodate water sent back uphill by a new underground powerhouse that reverses turbine operations. It would be similar to the water authority’s much smaller 40 MW pumped storage project that connects Hodges Reservoir with the Olivenhain Reservoir outside Escondido. To help prepare for an eventual pumped storage project, the San Vicente Reservoir was expanded by the raising of the dam in 2014, increasing the stored water from 90,000 to 150,000 acre-feet. (An acre-foot is water one foot deep across one acre of land or 326,000 gallons.) As currently proposed, the pumped storage facility means excavating a new, smaller reservoir above the existing San Vicente Reservoir, with several thousand acre-feet of storage. The amount of storage in the upper reservoir is to be determined as part of the first phase of work, according to Neena Kuzmich, the water authority’s deputy director of engineering. Water released from the upper reservoir would flow down to generate electricity, probably at peak afternoon and evening times, and then be pushed back uphill by turbines running on excess solar and wind power during the day. The project also includes a transmission line from the powerhouse to the grid. An $18 million infusion for the project was approved as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget last July. Pumped hydro back in style Today there are 43 pumped hydropower facilities across the U.S. While most of the talk about storage focuses on battery storage, pumped hydro in fact supplies 93% of existing utility-scale storage, the Department of Energy reported last January. It’s been many years since a new pumped hydro storage project was built. With their dramatic changes to the landscape and high evaporative losses, they have not been viewed as environmentally friendly. But the need for long-term storage appears to be reviving them, with developers emphasizing they will be powered by excess renewables. The first new project expected to come online is the 400 MW Swan Lake Energy Storage Project in Klamath County, Oregon, owned by Danish Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. FERC licensed the project in 2019. It is being built by Rye Developers. Construction is expected to begin this year with an online date of 2026. Last month, the California Department of Water Resources announced it would revive its pumped storage project next to the Oroville Dam. It will be powered by excess solar from the grid and sell peak power into the market. The project will also include a temperature control device, funded with $250 million from the state budget, to avoid releasing warm water that is detrimental to a downstream fish hatchery and other fish. It is projected to be online by 2026. A fisheries and limnology study will be conducted this year on the San Vicente pumped hydro that evaluates the “potential effects from the proposed project on fish populations,” as well as possible temperature changes,” according to Kuzmich. Photo: San Vicente Reservoir, courtesy of San Diego Water Authority Energy storage graphic also is courtesy of SDCWA

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