California added record clean energy — can it keep it up?
For three years in a row, California has added a record amount of new clean energy capacity. The amount of renewable energy and storage (i.e. batteries) added since 2020 is roughly equivalent to how much electricity the state has used on average on a daily basis - around 25,000 megawatts, according to new data from Governor Gavin Newsom's office and the California Public Utilities Commission shared with The Verge.
California is expecting that growth to continue, although the road ahead is looking increasingly bumpy with the Trump administration trying to make it harder to build new green energy infrastructure in the US.
"We've never added so much capacity to our grid in such a short amount of time."
"We've never added so much capacity to our grid in such a short amount of time, transforming our power grid to be cleaner and more reliable and resilient than ever before," Newsom said in a statement emailed to The Verge. His office declined to comment on proposals in President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" that could stymy renewable energy development if Congress passes it in its current form.
California added nearly 7,000 megawatts of renewable electricity and storage last year. …