California, renewable energy: See Renewable energy.

California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard decreed that 33% of its electricity must come from renewable sources by 2020 (‘Solar power, a painful eclipse’, The Economist October 15th 2011 p.61-2). ‘The Senate in California, a state that is close to hitting its goal of generating one-third of its power from renewables by 2020, has proposed raising the target to 60% by 2030,’ (‘At what cost?’ The Economist July 15th 2017).

‘In 2017 almost 30% of the state’s electricity came from renewable sources, with solar and wind accounting for about 10% each. Nuclear was about 9%. A decade ago, solar was just 0.22%, and wind 2.25%, with nuclear at 15%. Nuclear’s relative decline reflects, in part, a global trend highlighted in the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR), issued on September 4th. During the past decade investment in renewables has surged, whereas in nuclear it has stagnated. Falling prices of solar panels and wind turbines, the ever-growing expense and difficulty of building nuclear facilities, and cheap natural gas all play a part,’ (‘Cleaner than thou,’ The Economist July 15th 2017).