Dive Brief:

• The San Diego County Water Authority, in conjunction with the City of San Diego, is seeking proposals for a 500 MW pumped hydro power station.

• The water authority plans to issue a request for proposals this summer to solicit more detailed proposals from 18 respondents to an earlier request, but is also open proposals from parties that have not yet submitted proposals.

• The project would involve a 500 MW pumped storage facility at the San Vicente Reservoir that would be capable of storing energy for five to eight hours.

Dive Insight:

In January, San Diego’s water authority issued a request for letters to gauge interest in the building of a pumped storage facility at the San Vincente reservoir.

The request drew responses from 18 qualified parties, including five full-service entities offering to finance, design, permit, build, and operate the project. The other respondents included two developers, five off-takers, and six parties interested in constructing the project, providing equipment for the project, or serving as a consultant for engineering, procurement, and construction services. The responses included proposals for lease structures, as well as limited partnership structures.

Through the RFP slated to be issued this summer, the water authority will seek specific information from potential project partners and will require respondents to provide a full-service proposal, if they haven’t already done so. Entities that did not respond to the January request for letters of interest will be allowed to respond to the RFP. The water authority expects to evaluate the proposals by year end.

In addition to adding providing renewable energy to the region, the pumped storage facility could support grid operations essential to integrating new supplies of renewable energy into the grid.

San Diego’s water authority already operates a 40 MW pumped storage plant at Lake Hodges, which entered service in 2011.