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Canadian company planing to build energy storage plant in SLO County

November 23, 2021

Hydrostor’s proposed Pecho Energy Storage Center

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

A Canadian energy company is seeking to build a power storage facility along Highway 1 between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.

On Tuesday, Hydrostor submitted an application with the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop a 400-megawatt energy storage facility by Highway 1 and Canet Road. The proposed Pecho Energy Storage Center would provide large-scale, long-duration energy storage for the region with no fossil fuel consumption and no greenhouse gas emissions, Hydrostor says. The storage facility would interconnect at the existing PG&E Morro Bay Switching Station.

Pecho could deliver 400 megawatts of stored energy every hour for eights hours. If constructed, it would be one of California’s largest new energy storage facilities.

Hydrostor anticipates the facility could open as soon as 2026. Pecho is expected to have a capital investment of about $800 million.

The project would create between 200 to 450 labor jobs during a four-year construction period. Once operational, the energy storage plant would create 30 to 40 full-time equivalent jobs, Hydrostor says.

“Pecho will play a vital role in helping meet the region’s future energy supply and reliability needs after the retirement of the 2,200 MW Diablo Canyon Power Plant in 2024/2025,” the energy company stated in a news release. “Pecho’s ability to deliver 400 megawatts of carbon-free electricity for eight hours will be comparable in size and resiliency to some of California’s largest fossil-fuel power plants.”

In June 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission decided to direct the procurement of 1,000 megawatts of long-duration energy storage that would become operational between 2026 and 2028. Hydrostor previously announced a 500-megawatt energy storage center project in Kern County.

Tuesday’s filing will trigger an environmental review process. SLO County, along with other local, as well as state and federal agencies, will be involved in the CEC-led review, Hydrostor says.

In a statement, Hydrostor CEO Curtis VanWalleghem said his company’s facilities are designed to operate safely and efficiently with no degradation for 50 years.

“Deployment of Hydrostor’s unique combination of being a proven, cost-effective and carbon-free long duration storage solution will greatly enhance California’s program to fully transition to a reliable and carbon-free energy future,” VanWalleghem said . “We look forward to working closely with the citizens of San Luis Obispo County to earn their trust and support on our way to becoming a valued member of the community.”


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Who’s going to be the first politician to get their greedy hands involved in this?


4

Most likely Gibson, Morro Bay knows nothing about this deal, its out of their city limits.


0

Do you really think they got to this stage without local, greedy, politicians involved?

Companies don’t land in an area and announce a project of this size without a lot preplanning, and grease.


5

Fragile area ecologically, but hey, it’s something.


1

So this facility stores electricity but it doesn’t state where that energy will come from, are they just assuming windmills will be viable?


10

” state where that energy will come from”

From the grid, wherever it’s has the least cost, buy low sell high.


“just assuming windmills will be viable?”

The concept of self driving horseless carriages and supercomputers in your pocket is easy to grasp, but wind generators can’t make money?


Please tell Enterprize Energy their 4 gigawatt wind farm off the Irish coast will be a failure and that 3.4 gigawatt offshore wind farm in Vietnam is a waste of money?

/s


PS: no its not about the free obama phones, it’s capitalism.


-2

Jon traditional energy production doesn’t overfeed the grid. It is supplied into it like a flowing river. Solar, on homes for example, over produce during the day. An energy bank captures over production. This and also lessens brown out risk.


It makes buying oil derived energy cheaper as well with fewer emergency purchases needed from neighboring power systems at peak times.


This bank can store any energy no matter how it is sourced.


3

Sure be a shame to put an industrial facility in that area. Why not put close to a power plant? Why so far from the plants and it this spot.


4

This company does not own the plant/property in Morro Bay and just needs a grid connection. Unless you want the government to force private parties to share someones private property?


-4

Maybe the coast is a bad place for it? With Diablo and MB power plants there is really nothing in proximity that is charging this up. I say build it near power lines in an urban setting not this beautiful valley already messed up by Cuesta cmc and the county yards.


-3

Ya sure, and with the dependable wind the propellers can go up too, NOT !!!


-3

They will, floating offshore from Morro bay where the wind is dependable. However they won’t be visible from shore because the earth is round.


3

Highly corrosive environment, poor access offshore 30 miles. Yeah, that is never going to be producing much other than talking points and a few jobs.


0

Hwy one is a scenic designated hwy, we now have the dog pound and solar plant taking up space where once was farming and cattle and where deer and turkeys came to forage, we had a sewer plant in Morro Bay that was hidden from the hwy but now is out in full view, with the possibility of landslides coming down on it, now we have company that wants to put a storage plant in MB that we will be able to see from the hwy, and now this bunch wants to put another plant where we will see it and it will be next to houses, why are we the taxpayer forced to look at this blight when we can’t do anything without city or county ok, but they can put this blight up.


7