18-04-2025
State extends deadline for staff review of Rosamond energy storage project
Siding with staff over a Canadian energy-storage developer's timing concerns, a committee of the California Energy Commission agreed this week to extend a set of deadlines related to official review of a compressed-air facility proposed in Rosamond.
Tuesday's decision is still expected to result in a final decision by the end of this year on Toronto-based Hydrostor Inc.'s 500-megawatt Willow Rock Energy Storage Center. That was a primary concern for the company, which had expressed concern that delays could jeopardize the project's $1.76 billion federal loan guarantee.
Hydrostor's senior vice president of commercial affairs, Curt Hildebrand, said in a statement Thursday the company remains fully committed to meeting the milestones outlined in Tuesday's committee order, which he noted reiterated the desire of the commission and its staff to render a final decision before Dec. 31.
"We appreciate the committee's engagement throughout this process, and Hydrostor will continue to work closely with the staff of the California Energy Commission in an effort to bring the Willow Rock Energy Storage Center online to help meet California's system reliability requirements," he stated.
On April 2, a commission employee filed a motion blaming red tape, largely originating from other government agencies, for complications that have bogged down staff's review. It pointed to a series of issues such as wastewater discharge and preservation of archaeological resources.
The company responded in a filing one week later that agency staff had all the information they needed to complete a preliminary staff assessment that was supposed to be done by Wednesday. Under this week's order, that review won't be due until April 30. A deadline for the final staff assessment was pushed back from May 28 to July 16.
As part of the delay, which was generally supported by case intervenors California Unions for Reliable Energy and the Center for Biological Diversity, the project's public comment period was restored to 45 days from 30.
The project is planned to provide California's power grid more than eight hours of backup electricity when renewable power sources are unavailable. It is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs and about 40 full-time positions.
The committee's filing Tuesday reminded all parties in the case to abide by the dates and deadlines contained in this week's order.
