The news of the Gem Energy Storage Center comes a week after Hydrostor announced it had filed an application for another 3.2 GWh compressed air energy storage facility in California’s San Luis Obispo county. That project is supposed to come online in 2026 and 2027, and could help with the state’s efforts to shore up the grid after the anticipated retirement of the 2.2 GW Diablo Canyon nuclear plant by 2025, per Hydrostor.
This summer, California regulators approved an 11.5 GW procurement order that set aside 1 GW specifically for energy storage with a minimum duration of eight hours, to be procured around 2026.
