California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
produces more
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
than any other state in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
except Texas.
In 2018,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
ranked first in the nation as a producer of electricity from solar, geothermal, and biomass resources and fourth in the nation in conventional hydroelectric power generation.
As of 2017, over half of the electricity (52.7%) produced was from renewable sources.
Legal renewables requirement
In 2006, the California legislature passed the
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or Assembly Bill (AB) 32, is a California State Law that fights global warming by establishing a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources throughout the state. AB32 was c ...
which set a goal for 33% of electricity consumption in California to be generated by renewable sources by 2020.
In 2015, SB350 mandated that electric utilities purchase 50% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
Then in 2018, Senate Bill 100 was passed which increased the renewables requirement for electric utilities to 50% by 2026, 60% by 2030, and 100% by 2045.
In March 2022, CPUC approved a plan to add 18.8 GW solar, 6.7 GW wind, and 14.7 GW batteries by 2032 at 18c/kWh, reaching 73% renewables.
Significance at national level
![Renewable energy map usa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Renewable_energy_map_usa.jpg)
California's total energy consumption is second-highest in the nation but the state's per capita energy consumption is the fourth-lowest, due in part to its mild climate and its
energy efficiency
Energy efficiency may refer to:
* Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process
** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed
** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...
programs.
The percentage of
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
in California is perhaps made more notable by the particularly high population of the state, states with similar or higher percentages of renewable energy generally have lower populations. In 2009, the energy production in California was 8.43% of the nation's total renewable energy production, the second highest in the country after
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
. By 2017, California was the highest, with 10.05% of national renewable production.
Hydroelectric power generation
Hydroelectric power
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
is power created from the energy of running water. This water is usually stored and controlled by dams. Its productivity changes in accordance to how much rainfall is produced annually. In 2018, California ranked second in the United States for conventional hydroelectric generation,
however this is highly variable depending on droughts. For instance it obtained 21% of its electricity through hydroelectric power sources in 2017. This was higher than the previous year when only 14% of its electricity was produced through hydroelectric power. A drought in 2012 led to a reduction in the generation of hydroelectric power. Because of this, in 2014 the Energy Commission of California began to track the conditions on how the drought started. Utilities responded to the decrease in precipitation and lack of hydroelectric power by making short-term market purchases and relying on other renewable sources of electricity. Recovery from the drought started in late 2016, partly due to increased precipitation that restored hydroelectric power to normal conditions.
History of hydroelectric power generation in California
San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...
, California became the first western region state to receive a hydroelectric plant in 1887.
San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...
also received a voltage increase of 10,000 in 1892, from a 42-mile line extension that originated from a single phase 120 kilowatt (kW) plant built in
San Antonio Creek, California. While this is occurring in California, in the same year,
Edison General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ener ...
and Thomas Houston combine to form
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
. An ore mill owned by Standard Consolidated Mining, began receiving electricity from a 12.5-mile 2,500 AC power line that originated in
Bodie
Bodie ( ) is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States. It is about southeast of Lake Tahoe, and east-southeast of Bridgeport, California, Bridgepo ...
, California.
With the first three-phase hydroelectric system being built in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
back in 1891, the U.S. gets its first three phase system in 1893 in Mill Creek, California: featuring a line connection that extended 8 miles and carried 2,400 volts of electricity. Folsom, California received the same type of system in 1893 as well, except it had 11,000 volt alternators put in place, and its power line extended all the way to the state capitol, Sacramento.
The acquisition of Colgate hydroelectric plants in 1899 by Sacramento Power & Light Corporation gives them ownership of a 62-mile long power line extension.
In 1901, Bay Counties Power Company builds a 142-mile long power line from the Colgate hydroelectric plant, to
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
, California.
In the 1902
Reclamation act
The Reclamation Act (also known as the Lowlands Reclamation Act or National Reclamation Act) of 1902 () is a United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West.
The act at first covere ...
, the authority to install and input hydroelectric facilities was given to what would later become the
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...
.
In 1920, the
Federal Power Commission
The Federal Power Commission (FPC) was an independent commission of the United States government, originally organized on June 23, 1930, with five members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The FPC was originally created in 1 ...
is created through the
Federal Power Act The Federal Power Act is a law appearing in Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the United States Code, entitled "Federal Regulation and Development of Power". Enacted as the Federal Water Power Act on June 10, 1920, and amended many times since, its origina ...
with the authority to give licenses for companies to build hydroelectric facilities. Two years later in 1922, the first hydroelectric plant is built to meet peaking power capacity.
In 1944,
Shasta Dam
Shasta Dam (called Kennett Dam before its construction) is a concrete arch-gravity dam across the Sacramento River in Northern California in the United States. At high, it is the eighth-tallest dam in the United States. Located at the north e ...
begins producing
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
for the first time in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
The late 1960s and the 1970s ushered in an era of protection policies from the federal government. The first was the 1968
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...
, which stopped any attempt to build hydroelectric facilities on or near rivers. The National
Environment Policy Act followed the year after in 1969; and it enforced the idea of protecting the environment amongst the many federal agencies. Then came the
Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
in 1974, protecting species of fish and wildlife from the activities of the federal government. Four years later, the year 1978 brought about the
Public Utility Regulatory Policies act
The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA, ) is a United States Act passed as part of the National Energy Act. It was meant to promote energy conservation (reduce demand) and promote greater use of domestic energy and renewable energy (inc ...
, which allowed utility companies to go without federal licensing for hydroelectric projects.
By 2008, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
gets 6 percent of its electric power from hydroelectric production.
Solar power generation
Solar power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...
is power generated via the collection of the sunlight exerted from the sun. In 2018, California ranked first in the United States for solar power generation.
Over the past eight years, the prices of
solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
s and solar power have fallen considerably. In 2010, only about 0.5% of California's electricity came from solar power, although this percentage rose to about 10% in 2016. According to the
U.S. Energy Information Administration
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and publ ...
, solar electricity costs about 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, in part due to California's emphasis on solar power. This price is on par with the cost to produce electricity through a natural gas plant and is half of the cost of a nuclear power facility.
On December 5, 2018, the
California Building Standards Commission The California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) is authorized by the state of California, through the California Building Standards Law, to manage the many process relating to development, adoption, approval, publication, and implementation of C ...
voted unanimously to add energy standards to the state building code, officially making California the first state in the United States to require that new homes, built in 2020 and later, be solar powered.
In recent years, California's electricity generation from solar power has increased substantially. There have been issues with solar power plants producing too much electricity for the transmission grid to handle and the state to use. In March 2017,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
produced so much extra solar power it paid
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
to take the electricity, saving Arizona substantial amounts of money on electricity.
History of Solar Power Generation in California
Electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
generated from sunlight via silicon solar cells was the invention produced by Bell Laboratories D.M. Chapin, C.S. Fuller and G.L. Pearson in 1954. In 1978, the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
passed The
Energy Tax Act The Energy Tax Act (, , enacted November 9, 1978) is a law passed by the U.S. Congress as part of the National Energy Act. The objective of this law was to shift from oil and gas supply toward energy conservation; thus, to promote fuel efficiency an ...
. This was to counter the
Arab Oil Embargo
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
which generated an energy crisis in the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
during the 1970s. A 40% tax credit was given to homes that installed solar devices on their homes on or after April 20, 1977, and before January 1, 1986. Even though this policy was rolled back by the
Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over D ...
, this led to the rise in utility-scale solar systems and turbines in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
The world's largest photovoltaic cell manufacturing facility was built in
Camarillo, California
Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan an ...
by
ARCO
ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...
in 1979. Within a four-year period, ARCO built a facility in the Californian Carrissa Plain, capable of generating 6 megawatts of photovoltaic cells. Later expanded to two megawatts, a 1.0 megawatt photovoltaic power plant was built in the Sacramento Municipality Utility District in 1984. Two years later in 1986, featured in California's
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
was the largest solar thermal electricity facility. Currently, this same facility generates 300 megawatts of
solar thermal energy
Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors.
Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United St ...
.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...
(PG&E) built a 500-kilowatt grid-supporting
photovoltaic system
A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and co ...
in
Kerman, California
Kerman (formerly Collis) is a city at the intersection of State Route 180 and State Route 145 in Fresno County, California, United States. The population was 13,544 at the 2010 census. Kerman is located west of Fresno, at an elevation of 220 ...
. Being 1993, it was the first of its kind "distributed power" PV installment. In 1996, solar two illustrated how the storing of energy with efficiency could allow power and electricity to be generated even at night. This is why the
U.S. Department of Energy and an industry consortium upgraded from solar-one, to solar-two.
Also in 1996, the state legislature and
Governor Pete Wilson put in place Assembly Bill 1890: which boosted incentives to produce more grid-based PV systems under the direction of the California Energy Commission's Renewable Energy Program, while at the same time weakening state investor-owned electric utilities. Senate Bill 90, which supported the provisions of Assembly Bill 1890, focused the resources of the Energy Commission to
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
. Uplifting a self-sustaining market for "emerging" renewable energy technologies was the objective in Senate Bill 90.
Technology used for Solar Power Generation
The technology behind solar power generation varies, depending on the method being used to generate power.
Photovoltaic (PV),
concentrating solar power (CSP), and
solar heating and cooling (SHC) systems are the three different solar technologies used to generate power.
Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight into power directly. Observed on solar panels, photovoltaic is the more familiar method of technology in regards to solar power. They can be seen on the roofs of homes, in a field next to schools, behind stores, etc. Concentrating solar power (CSP) features massive areas of solar mirrors that indirectly generate power. They are more so used in large scale facilities and campuses like power plants.
Solar heating and cooling technology takes heat from the sun and provides for things like water heating, space heating, and more.
How the process works
Solar energy is produced in three different ways as mentioned above: via photovoltaic cells (PV), concentrating solar power (CSP), and solar heating and cooling (SHC).
In the case of
photovoltaic
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
cells, electricity is generated via the absorption of sunlight. The sunlight is converted into electricity by a
semi-conductor
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...
. The photons, after phasing through the semi-conductor, loses their electrons.
Concentrating solar power (CSP) features turbines powered by huge areas of solar mirrors that in turn derive energy from the sun.
Solar heating and cooling
A solar combisystem provides both solar heating, solar space heating and solar cooling, cooling as well as water heating, hot water from a common array of solar thermal collectors, usually backed up by an auxiliary non-solar heat source.
Solar ...
(SHC) systems can be installed into homes just like other basic installations.
Solar water heating
Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for residential an ...
provides that a solar collector store heated water, which is warmed by thermal energy from the sun, in a storage tank. Hot or cold, this water can then be used for any residential purposes.
Geothermal power generation
Geothermal power
Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 2 ...
is power generated via the collection of thermal energy, stored over millions of years in the Earth's core. In 2017,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
ranked first in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in geothermal power generation.
California is located on the
Pacific Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many Types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruptions and ...
, with the conjunctions of
tectonic plates
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...
providing California the largest potential for producing geothermal energy generation in the country. Most of California's geothermal plants are located slightly north of San Francisco in
Lake Folsom and
Sonoma Counties. This is due to the geysers geothermal resource area, which produces electricity from dry steam. This area has been producing electricity since the mid-1960s, with dry steam in this location existing in only one of two places in the world.
There are 43 operating geothermal power plants in California, which produced 11,745 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2017. This in-state generation, combined with 700 GWh of imported geothermal energy, led geothermal energy to contribute 5.69% of the state's total electricity usage in 2017.
History of geothermal power generation in California
In 1847, north of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, California, a streaming valley containing an area called "The Geysers." The area was discovered by William Bell Elliot. A member of
John C. Fremonts's survey party, he believed he had found the gates of hell.
In 1927,
Imperial Valley, California
, photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg
, photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image.
, map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg
, map_caption = Map of Imperial ...
featured the first exploratory wells. They were drilled by the Pioneer Development Company.
Thirty-three years later in 1927, the
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...
began the operating the nation's first large-scale geothermal electricity-generating plant. Encompassing an 11 megawatts (MW) productivity of net power, it lasted for three decades.
![Seal of the United States Department of Energy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Seal_of_the_United_States_Department_of_Energy.svg)
1970 brought about both the
Geothermal Resources Council
Geothermal Rising (formally Geothermal Resources Council) is an international non-profit association of professionals in the field of geothermal energy. It is based in Davis, California. It was founded in Olympia in Washington state in May 1971, ...
and The Geothermal Stream Act. The Geothermal Resources Council was to inspire the development of geothermal resources around the world. The Geothermal Stream Act, established in the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
that the Secretary of the Interior have the power to lease federal publicly owned lands to geothermal explorations. The rest of the 1970s saw a rise in geothermal organizations. One of those was
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which was established in 1977.
The Imperial Valley in California gets the first electrical development of a water-dominated geothermal resource in 1979.
Producing 10 megawatts (MW), 1980 brings about the first geothermal flash plant, producing 10 megawatts (MW) in
Brawley, California. It's developed by the
Union Oil Company of California
Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...
(UNOCAL).
In 2005, the
Energy Policy act evolved America's policy by giving tax incentives for energy production. This made for a more competitive environment for geothermal energy with
fossil fuel
A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...
s.
Biomass power generation
Biomass power
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...
is power generated by extracting the energy stored in plants and animals. Biomass is all solid, nonhazardous, cellulosic material taken from forested areas. California ranked first in the United States in power generation from biomass in 2017.
Biomass-based electricity in California produced 5,767 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2017, contributing to about 2.8 percent of the state's total energy usage. There are 93 operating biomass-based power plants in California.
California's biomass power mostly comes from waste-to-energy based power plants. There are four specific types of biomass power generation in California: biomass, digester gas (anaerobic digestion),
landfill gas
Landfill gas is a mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill as they decompose organic waste, including for example, food waste and paper waste. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane, ...
, and municipal solid waste. In addition to these four categories, there is one biomass electricity plant in the state that uses chipped-up forest residue as fuel for electricity generation.
Wind power generation
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
ranked fourth in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in
wind power
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
generation in 2017, behind
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
,
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, and
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
.
Wind power in California
Wind power in California had initiative and early development during Governor Jerry Brown's first two terms in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The state's wind power capacity has grown by nearly 350% since 2001, when it was less than 1,700 MW. In ...
generated about 13,500 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2016; this amounts to about 6.81 percent of the state's electricity usage. This number does not account for homes and farms that use personal turbines to produce power.
History of wind power generation in California
Just like with
solar energy
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...
, tax incentives from the
Energy Tax Act The Energy Tax Act (, , enacted November 9, 1978) is a law passed by the U.S. Congress as part of the National Energy Act. The objective of this law was to shift from oil and gas supply toward energy conservation; thus, to promote fuel efficiency an ...
(ETA) of 1978 led to a rise in wind based electrical systems in the state of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
In 1978, wind developers began large wind projects in both
Altamont Pass
Altamont Pass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Diablo Range of Northern California between Livermore in the Livermore Valley and Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. The name is actually applied to two distinct but nearby c ...
and
Tehachapi, California
Tehachapi (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") is a city in Kern County, California, United States, in the Tehachapi Mountains, at an elevation of , between the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert. Tehachapi is east-southeast ...
. Three years later in 1981, utilities were required to establish long-term possessions of alternative energy because of a boom in wind energy production, which was caused by the movements and changes made by the California Public Utility Commission. However, by 1985 the need for
wind power
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
retracted a little due to a drop in oil prices. So, California utility companies stop contracting deals that involved wind power because the incentive decayed a little.
Still, that did not stop the production of
wind power
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. In fact, in that same year (1985), productivity was still active enough for a preference on the type of turbine installed by companies. The 56-100 kW machine became the most preferred wind turbine in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Most if not all of those turbines resided in California by 1986, with
Altamont Pass
Altamont Pass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Diablo Range of Northern California between Livermore in the Livermore Valley and Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. The name is actually applied to two distinct but nearby c ...
encompassing 6,200 turbines, and
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
wind farms having a 1,200 megawatt (MW) total capacity.
The 2005
Energy Policy Act, like it did the other types of
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
sources, effected the capacity to which the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
could produce electricity via the wind, by increasing it. By 2015,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
is leading the way when it comes to renewable energy, and begins establishing more opportunities to expand the use of wind energy with a 50 percent
renewable portfolio standards (RPS).
Renewable energy industry employment
A 2019 report from two non-profit environmental groups stated that "clean energy jobs" in California outnumbered fossil fuel jobs 5 to 1, but Jim Sweeney, a professor at Stanford's Precourt Energy Efficiency Center stated that two-thirds of the jobs labelled as "clean energy jobs" are jobs in energy efficiency, and are not new jobs, but rather a re-labelling of old jobs such as furnace installer (with more efficient furnaces.)
He stated that a more fair comparison would show the same number of clean energy jobs as fossil fuel jobs.
In California, the clean energy economy provides 16% of clean energy jobs within the United States, which includes the 26.5% employment rates for renewable energy occupations. California had employed the most people during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
(2019-2020), with a total of 485,000 new employees that is 3% of California's work force.
Employees' hired in California for renewable energy occupations include 124,817 jobs in solar energy and 2,520 jobs in wind energy.
Jobs provided to Californians' related to energy efficiency are categorized by manufacturing of clean vehicles (40,000 jobs), Clean storage (17,000 jobs), electricity grid modification (6,000 jobs), and all other indirect clean energy sectors (500,000 jobs).
References
{{United States topic, prefix=Renewable energy in