The California Energy Commission is considering a proposed $3,146,250 grant to Element 16 Technologies Inc. for a commercial-scale sulfur electric thermal-storage demonstration at Pacific Coast Producers’ tomato-processing facility in Woodland, according to the CEC’s Oct. 19 business-meeting packet.
The project would install a system with 5 megawatt-hours of storage. Under the proposed scope, it would charge with grid electricity or renewable power and discharge heat for industrial processes, operating at temperatures up to 400 degrees Celsius and at a peak charge and discharge heat rate of 500 kilowatts. The CEC packet says the system is intended to reduce the facility’s natural-gas use for boiler operations; those reductions are proposed targets, not results already documented.
The grant agreement would run from Oct. 30, 2026, through June 30, 2031. The scope calls for engineering, installation, commissioning and performance testing, followed by measurement of natural-gas savings, energy savings and greenhouse-gas reductions.
The proposed measurement plan requires at least six months of data collection before installation and at least six months after installation, unless the CEC’s agreement manager approves a different period. An independent third-party subcontractor would verify the data, analysis and reported results.
The packet also recommends categorical exemptions from the California Environmental Quality Act for minor alterations and installation of limited equipment at the existing facility. The materials available for this draft do not establish a final vote tally or executed agreement. Baseline gas use, projected site-specific savings and any eventual ratepayer benefits would need to be confirmed through later CEC records and project reporting.
