More than two-thirds of California’s power grid is now fueled by clean energy sources — marking a new milestone for the Golden State, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Monday, noting that fossil fuel alternatives were the only energy sources used “nearly every day this year for some part of the day.”
“As the federal government turns its back on innovation and commonsense, California is making our clean energy future a reality,” Newsom said in a statement. “The world’s fourth largest economy is running on two-thirds clean power — the largest economy on the planet to achieve this milestone.”
“Not since the Industrial Revolution have we seen this kind of rapid transformation,” he added.
The governor’s office noted in its news release that the most recent figures, which show 67 percent of the state’s power coming from clean sources, are from 2023 and the state has made additional efforts since then. California approved a state law in 2018 that requires the state to move to 100 percent renewable, carbon-free power sources by 2045.
“The latest numbers show how our state is demonstrating that clean energy is mainstream and is here to stay,” California Energy Commission (CEC) Chair David Hochschild said in a statement.
“Clean energy” refers to sources such as solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, geothermal and biomass that do not produce greenhouse gas emissions.
Newsom announced last fall that the state’s greenhouse gas levels have dropped 20 percent since 2000.
But the state’s power milestone comes amid federal pushback on programs meant to encourage transitions to renewable energy sources.
The massive tax and spending overhaul, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that President Trump signed earlier this month cuts back green energy subsidies that Democrats had embraced during the Biden administration.
Trump signed an executive order days after signing the law, blasting “expensive and unreliable energy sources like wind and solar” and directing top Cabinet officials to review subsidies that have been given to promote those efforts.
“Reliance on so-called ‘green’ subsidies threatens national security by making the United States dependent on supply chains controlled by foreign adversaries,” the president wrote. “Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts to unreliable energy sources is vital to energy dominance, national security, economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation.”
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