A battery storage project in San Juan Capistrano is cancelled
A battery storage project is a facility that charges racks of rechargeable batteries from the electric grid and discharges the power back into it later. Compass Energy Storage LLC, an Engie North America company, cancelled a 250 megawatt battery storage project in San Juan Capistrano, California, formally withdrawing its application on August 31, 2026, after 4 years of trying. The plan would have stored up to 1,000 megawatt hours on 13 acres the company hoped to buy from Saddleback Church, next to Interstate 5.
The city turned down a local rezoning request for the site in 2022, so the company shifted to a state process instead, an opt in certification program that lets a developer route around a city own zoning through state review at the California Energy Commission, docket 24 OPT 02. In its own withdrawal letter, filed under penalty of perjury, Compass told the commission its decision was "based on the inability to locate an alternative suitable site in proximity to the point of interconnect and due to changed economic conditions associated with the Project." That interconnect point is where a plant connects to the grid.
Local opposition and a company retreat
Local opposition did not let up once the state took over review. The city council adopted an interim ban on new commercial battery storage systems on March 18, 2025, then a formal resolution opposing the project on June 3, 2025, citing fire risk near Oso Creek, an eroding, environmentally sensitive waterway. Almost 2,000 public comments were filed with the state review, most of them opposed, and more than 160 people spoke for more than 5 hours at one information meeting, according to Energy Storage News.
By December 2025 Engie asked the state to pause its review while it searched for another site. It never found one. Renee Louise Robin, director of permitting and planning for Engie North America, said commercial problems at the site had undercut the economics of the project. The commission confirmed the pause this way.
As such, the Compass Energy Storage Project is suspended, and CEC staff will discontinue any work on the project until such time as the suspension ends.
Drew Bohan, executive director of the California Energy Commission. Source 1.
The project alone matched the Engie fleet across California
The scale of what was cancelled reaches beyond one town. This single proposed project, at 250 megawatts, would have equaled the entire standalone battery fleet Engie already operates or is building across California, also 250 megawatts, according to Energy Storage News. It is this article own comparison of the 2 sourced figures, not either source own claim.
The cancelled project figure is source 3, the city own project page. The Engie fleet figure, standalone battery storage Engie already operates or has under construction across California, is source 2.
Show the numbers
| Cancelled project | 250 |
| Engie California battery fleet | 250 |
The state needs far more than this one project
Even together, the cancelled project and everything else Engie runs in California fall far short of what the state itself says it needs. California is working toward a goal of more than 45,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2045, and Engie also has more than 6,250 megawatts of solar and storage active in development across the state, according to Energy Storage News. Measured against the 2045 goal, the cancelled project alone equaled about 0.6% of it, a figure this article calculates by dividing 250 by 45,000.
All 3 figures come from Energy Storage News. The middle figure combines solar and battery storage projects Engie has in active development, not battery storage alone. The cancelled project figure is confirmed separately by source 3, the city own project page.
Show the numbers
| Cancelled project | 250 |
| Engie active development in California | 6250 |
| California 2045 storage goal | 45000 |
The city says this was never about renewable energy
Mayor John Campbell, in a December 23, 2025 statement from the city, thanked 4 elected officials for standing with San Juan Capistrano, including Representative Mike Levin, Senator Catherine Blakespear, Assemblywoman Laurie Davies and Supervisor Katrina Foley. No statement from Levin himself appears in the record, only the mayor own thanks to him.
What mattered most throughout this process was protecting our community and ensuring local voices were heard.
John Campbell, Mayor of San Juan Capistrano. Source 5.
The city statement was direct about what the fight was and was not about, stating its position "has never been opposition to renewable energy, but rather the importance of appropriate siting and responsible project design."