On April 30th, just over a week ago, California—the world’s fifth-largest economy, hit an incredible milestone—On that historic Saturday, the entire state was powered by 100 percent clean energy for approximately 15 minutes, with solar power leading the charge.
As reported by Electrek, the energy demand statewide reached 18,672 megawatts at 2:45 in the afternoon, with 37,172 megawatts available. The excess energy is exported to neighboring states. According to a continuous tracker provided by the nonprofit California Independent System Operator (CAISO), 101 percent of the power provided came from clean and renewable energy sources.
“Two-thirds of the 18,000 megawatts needed was provided by solar power loaded into the energy grid,” reported the Desert Sun. “The rest came from wind, geothermal, and other renewable sources. The milestone lasted almost 15 minutes before edging back down to about 97 percent renewables.”
California’s clean energy journey
Back in 2020, California surpassed 81 percent clean energy, and within only two years, the state can demonstrate its progress by reaching 101 percent.
However, the work isn’t done yet. California is still running in part on natural gas plants, and even on April 30th, the state burned enough gas to meet around 15 percent of demand while it had enough non-hydro clean energy production to meet 97 percent of demand. The excess natural gas that wasn’t used in California was transferred to other states.
That said, it’s still important to celebrate these amazing milestones and allow historic events like this to inspire and motivate us to work even harder to reach the ultimate goal of 100 percent clean energy, every day of the year.
California has mandated a clean energy target of 100 percent clean electricity by 2045.
