California needs three times more power capacity to reach 100% clean energy by 2045
An initial analysis suggests the goal is technically feasible but only with a sustained high pace of construction: 6 GW annually for the next 25 years. Over the last decade, the state has built on average 1 GW of utility solar and 0.3 GW of wind per year.
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Existing resources as of 2019
Resources needed by 2045
Solar (Utility-Scale)
Total (MW)
Storage (Battery)
Solar (Customer)
Wind (Offshore)
Wind (Onshore)
Storage (Long Duration)
Geothermal
Solar (Utility-Scale) 69,640 MW needed
California has 776 operating solar power plants, which together with imports produced 14.2% of total electricity in 2021. Solar Star, with 1.7 million solar panels in Los Angeles and Kern Counties, was the largest solar farm in the world when it went fully online in 2015. It has the capacity to power the equivalent of approximately 245,000 households.
Graphic: Erica Yee, CalMatters
Notes about the data
Although the state has existing hydroelectric generation, nuclear, and biomass resources, they are not included in this chart because no new buildouts of those technologies are included in the state's model.
The model assumes some existing natural gas capacity will be retained for cost and reliability reasons during the transition to clean energy.
Source: 2021 SB 100 Joint Agency Report, Energy Commission