Note that gas peaker plants only run 10% of the time on the average (basically, they only work in the summer when our grid needs the most power, and then they don't make any money for the rest of the year).
From an economics / business point of view, having your power plants sit around only working 10% of the time is completely uneconomical. You need to be compensated severely to make it worth your while.
Or to put it another way: my energy storage company that gets 1c off energy arbitrage for all 12-months 100% of the year will make more money than your peaker plant that only gets 7c for 10% of the year.
And good luck convincing California to build a peaker plant. It is more politically sound to push for green-energy batteries. You'll get more approval in more locations in the US than gas (even if Natural gas is all-American and burns cleanly, its still a fossil fuel which is increasingly becoming a poison word in politics)