The Golden State has achieved an historic milestone – the state was powered by two-thirds clean energy in 2023, the latest year for which data is available. California is the largest economy in the world to achieve this level of clean energy. The announcement was made recently by Governor Gavin Newsom.
State officials released new data showing California’s continued progress toward a clean energy future with 67 percent of the state’s retail electricity sales in 2023 coming from renewable and zero-carbon electricity generation — compared to just 61 percent the previous year and around 41 percent a decade ago. Sources of clean energy include generation from solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, geothermal and biomass.
In 2024, the state added a record-breaking 7,000 megawatts (MW) of clean capacity to the grid, representing the largest single-year increase in clean energy capacity added to the grid in state history. This new figure broke the previous records set in both 2022 and 2023, marking a third consecutive year of unprecedented clean energy growth.
California is actively working to make a 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 percent of the state’s power nearly every day this year for some part of the day. Historic investments over the past 15 years have led to an extraordinary pace of development in new clean energy generation. And as the grid is increasingly powered by clean energy, pollution is down and the economy is up.
Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20 percent since 2000 – even as the state’s GDP increased 78 percent in that same time period. The power sector is a major driver of the decline in greenhouse gases – emissions from electric power have been cut in half since 2009, helping the state achieve its emissions reductions goals years ahead of schedule.
California is home to the most clean energy jobs in the U.S. and the state’s renewable energy and clean vehicle industries lead the nation in growth. California boasts more than a half-million green jobs and has seven times more clean jobs than fossil fuel jobs. Solar and wind jobs account for a majority of green jobs, and battery storage and grid modernization is the second-fastest growing sector within California’s clean energy workforce.
The state also continues to move at a rapid pace on bringing clean energy online. Since 2019, a record 25,000 MW of new energy resources statewide have been added to the grid, with most of that being solar and battery storage. This aligns with the Governor’s roadmap to the state’s clean energy future released in 2023, which called for 148,000 megawatts (MW) of new clean power by 2045.
“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,” said California Energy Commission (CEC) Chair David Hochschild.
Sources eligible under the state’ Renewables Portfolio Standard – such as solar and wind – made up 43 percent of the power mix in 2023, up from 39 percent in 2022. Other zero carbon resources continue to power the grid with large hydro accounting for 12 percent and nuclear power at 12 percent in 2023.
“California has set ambitious clean energy goals, and utilities and community choice aggregators have stepped up to deliver clean resources at competitive prices to communities up and down the state,” said California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Reynolds. “We are bringing renewable energy online at an unprecedented scale and pace never seen before.”
Solar represents the technology with the largest amount of installed renewable energy capacity in the state – over 21,000 MW of solar capacity operates the electric grid and another 19,000 MW of behind-the-meter generation. The California grid regularly breaks solar generation peak record levels – the latest solar peak recorded in late May was over 21,500 MW of solar generation.
The state is also doubling down on its goals by swiftly increasing its battery energy storage capacity. The state’s battery fleet now stands at over 15,000 MW – 1,944 percent higher than when the Governor took office in 2019. The state’s storage fleet is regularly storing any available extra solar energy generated during the day, and supporting the grid by dispatching during the evening.
More than nine out of 10 days so far this year have been powered by 100 percent clean energy for at least some part of the day in California. In 2025, California’s grid has run on 100 percent clean electricity for an average of seven hours a day.
Data compiled by the California Energy Commission shows clean energy has powered the equivalent of 51.9 days in the state – nearly 30 percent of the year to date running on 100 percent clean electricity. That already surpasses the amount of “clean energy days” last year – and represents a 750 percent increase in clean energy days since 2022.
