As Earth Month drew to a close, the state of California was recently able to produce virtually all of their energy needs from renewable sources for the first time ever.
In early April, the state achieved a new record at 97.6% renewable power, and on May 2 they were able to reach 99.9%. On May 8 the record was broken yet again, with 103% of the state’s power needs being met by renewables for a few hours. . . .
To set our sights on a fully carbon-free future, however, there is still work to be done to ensure that clean power is available at all times; when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, California must still rely on fossil fuels to meet its energy demands.
Large-scale battery projects are essential to providing clean energy around the clock, allowing solar power generated during the day to be stored and used after sunset. The state has invested in massive efforts to scale up the grid’s storage capacity in recognition of this need, and battery storage in California has already increased 20-fold since 2019 . . . The US is also home to one of the largest deposits of lithium (an essential mineral for battery production), of which only 1% is currently being used; sustainably extracting this resource will be necessary to achieve the speed and scale needed for the US to meet its climate goals.
For California to achieve 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2045, solar and wind projects will need to be built 3 times faster and battery storage expansion will need to be developed 8 times faster. In addition to the trends in battery production described above, the renewable energy industry is evolving to bring this goal well within reach. Clean power production in California has tripled since 2005, largely due to increased cost efficiency in renewable energy. Over the last decade, the price of renewable energy has plummeted: wind has become 3 times more affordable and solar has become 10 times more affordable, making it more cost effective than any fossil fuel-burning power source. . . .