California’s grid sets new clean energy records
Heading into Earth Week, officials reported that the state’s electric grid racked up a series of accomplishments never before seen in California history.
By bringing on more sources of clean electricity and diversifying the state’s energy portfolio, clean energy has been exceeding the demands of nearly 40 million people and the world’s 5th-largest economy.
The state reported that during 31 of the past 43 days, clean energy exceeded grid demand consumed at a point during the day; that’s compared to only seven days all of last year. And, it was only two years ago in May that California first even momentarily met demand with 100% clean energy.
Solar projects served a new high of 17,170 MW, an increase of over a thousand MW from last year’s peak — enough to power millions of homes. And, the amount of demand served by solar hit a new record, powering 86.4% of electricity demand.
In addition, for the first time ever, battery storage discharge exceeded 6 GW and batteries were the largest source of supply to power the grid at a point during the day.
California has built out 5,600 MW of battery storage capacity, a 1020% increase since 2020, the state reported.