California Is Transitioning From Fossil Fuels to Electric Power. It’s Going to Get Messy

California is transitioning to clean energy. KQED is reporting on what that means for you. What works? What doesn’t? How much does it cost? Help us find these answers and more by donating today.

California is in a state of transition.

The Golden State’s 20th-century success was built on a foundation of fossil fuels: the car allowed the population to skyrocket and suburbs and freeways to proliferate, homegrown oil production generated major capital, and Hollywood illuminated soundstages with lights powered by coal and oil.

California is now banking on a different future, one built on renewable and carbon-free electricity. Lawmakers passed a 2018 mandate requiring that utilities source 100% of their electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources by the end of 2045. “It will not be easy. It will not be immediate. But it must be done,” then-Gov. Jerry Brown said.

Adding to the challenge is a steep increase in electricity costs, reflected in the monthly utility bills Californians must pay each month. Costs have nearly doubled in the last decade, largely driven by investments to shore up the grid against climate-fueled wildfires. The high price of power makes a key component of the transition, the switch from gas to electricity, daunting.

Despite this, the state is making major progress, but there’s still a long way to go. And like any adolescence, things are prone to get awkward.

The state of limbo has a name: “mid-transition,” coined by Emily Grubert, a sustainable energy researcher at the University of Notre Dame. California is among the first places “actually dealing with many of these questions of managed transition” away from fossil fuels, Grubert said.

The progress and targets California has yet to achieve are visible in the charts below.

California’s use of renewable and zero-carbon sources to generate electricity grew from 41% in 2013 to about 67% in 2023. That includes renewables like solar, wind, and geothermal energy and zero-carbon sources like nuclear and large hydroelectric projects.

State officials often trot out the fact that California’s economy has “decoupled” its economic growth from planet-warming pollution. “In California, we know that a healthy, clean climate and thriving economy aren’t zero-sum games. We can excel at both,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in 2025.

California’s GDP more than doubled from 2000 to 2023, even as overall greenhouse gas emissions fell by 21%.

California has successfully built out battery storage, reaching 16,942 megawatts (MW) of capacity, enough to power roughly 13 million homes for 4 hours. That represents a 2100% increase since 2019. The batteries hold excess solar and wind energy, which is deployed when the sun sets or the wind stops blowing.

California’s clean energy transition will be challenging and expensive, but Grubert said, sticking to the current approach is enormously costly as well, and simply not an option on a dangerously warming planet.

Among the challenges will be expanding and strengthening the electricity grid to feed more energy-hungry data centers, electric vehicles and appliances, while safeguarding utility poles and wires against wildfires and extreme weather.

The state will also need to maintain both aging fossil fuel infrastructure and an expanding electric system in a way that won’t put further strain on Californians struggling with high utility costs.

How can California achieve its energy future without breaking the bank? Over the coming months, KQED will tell the stories of a California in mid-transition: the challenges and potential solutions.

The stories will examine how this enormous shift is unfolding at the state, community and individual levels.

We’ll look at the power sources available to the state — including nuclear, solar, wind — the challenges that come with them, and the costs of building out new sources of power or keeping older ones online.

We’ll report on community efforts to swap gas appliances for electric ones, including how low- and middle-income families are making this switch.

And we’ll cover how individuals, even in this murky middle ground, are taking action: renters investing in portable heat pumps and solar panels, libraries loaning out induction cooktops, electric vehicle owners trying to turn their cars into a backup battery.

Follow along as we chronicle the messy, erratic and exciting birth of a new California energy system.