California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that the state has reached a new milestone with 67% of the state’s retail electricity sales in 2023 derived from renewable and zero-carbon sources.
This represents a 61% increase from the previous year’s figure.
Renewables such as solar and wind constituted 43% of California’s power mix in 2023, an uptick from the preceding year, with large hydroelectricity and nuclear power each contributing another 12%.
California has introduced a total of 25,000MW of new energy means to its grid since 2019, a majority being solar and battery storage.
These efforts align with Newsom’s plan to add 148GW of new clean power by 2045.
Investments since 2010 have catalysed rapid development across clean energy production.
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By GlobalDataGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have dropped by 20% since 2000, while economic output rose by nearly 78% during this period.
Newsom stated: “California is making our clean energy future a reality. The world’s fourth-largest economy is running on two-thirds clean power – the largest economy on the planet to achieve this milestone.
“And for the first time ever, clean energy provided 100% of the state’s power nearly every day this year for some part of the day. Not since the Industrial Revolution have we seen this kind of rapid transformation.”
The state added 7,000MW of clean capacity to its grid in 2024 alone, which represents the largest single-year increase recorded for California, indicating a continuous three years of growth within the sector.
Solar technology dominates installed renewable energy capacity in the state, with the recent solar peak, seen in late May 2025, exceeding 21,500MW.
The state is also expanding its battery storage capabilities, which now exceed 15GW. The growing fleet stores excess daytime solar production for evening use.
California Energy Commission (CEC) chair David Hochschild stated: “California has achieved yet another major milestone on our journey to a clean energy future. The latest numbers show how our state is demonstrating that clean energy is mainstream and is here to stay.”
California also leads in the US in terms of clean energy jobs, having more than half a million jobs in the sector, especially in solar and wind, followed by the battery storage and grid transformation segments.
