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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has authorised a new centralised process to procure long lead-time energy resources, including long-duration energy storage (LDES). The goal is to integrate up to 10.6GW of clean energy sources by 2037 through the scheme, a figure initially stated by the CPUC as necessary to meet California’s 2045 decarbonisation goal. The 10.6GW is split into 7.6GW of offshore wind, up to 1GW of geothermal and up to 1GW of LDES with the capability of discharging for over 12 hours – potentially 12GWh of LDES capacity. Energy storage and geothermal tenders will begin in 2026 for completion between 2031-3027, while the wind procurement process will begin later in 2027 to come online between 2035-2037.
What about lithium-ion?
Crucially, lithium-ion technologies are excluded from the procurement process. This is because the CPUC has taken the decision to prioritise those technologies that are not being deployed at the necessary rate to achieve the state’s energy goals purely on a market-driven basis. This is similar to the announcement made by the UK Government this year in that its LDES technology list also excluded lithium-ion technologies. The majority of LDES systems coming online in the near-term are likely to be eight-hour BESS projects, with the wider duration span of four to 100 hours.
Rho Motion’s evaluation, why a centralised procurement?
Assembly Bill 1373 outlines the state’s commitment to diversifying its energy portfolio alongside LDES. The Department …
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