Data Source: California Energy Commission.
Analysis by CEC Economics
Highlights
- From 2015 to 2024, California added 34.0 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale capacity into its grid. Non-hydroelectric and RPS-eligible renewables made up two-thirds (67.3%) of the new capacity additions, with most of them coming from solar (20.7 GW from 2015 to 2024) followed by wind (1.6 GW). During the same period, the state retired 12.2 GW of utility-scale power plants. California also added 433 MW of geothermal, 112 MW of biomass, and 12 MW of hydroelectric/small hydro to the grid.
- During the same 10-year period, most of the power plants retired had been aging natural gas power plants (10.3 GW), most of which began operations between the 1950s to the 1970s, although the retirements have been offset by additions (11.1 GW). California also retired 112 MW of coal power plants during the same period. Meanwhile, the state had also retired 1.6 GW of solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass plants, which collectively comprised 11.3% of total retirements.
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