California Would Require Electricity To Be 100 Percent Renewable By 2045 If This Bill Passes

Electricity in California would all come from sources like wind and solar if a bill in the Assembly becomes law.

Senate Bill 100 starts by boosting the state’s renewable electricity requirement to 60 percent by 2030.

Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner says the bill also sets a goal of getting 100 percent of electricity from non-carbon emitting sources by 2045.

“If we pull that off, then we will be the largest users of energy in the world with such a goal,” said Skinner, who co-authored the bill.

S.B. 100 was held in the Assembly last year after passing the Senate. Skinner says it's a big deal for the sixth largest economy in the world to implement this policy.

Investor-owned utilities such as Southern California Edison say even though they strongly support a clean-energy future for California, they oppose the bill. “S.B. 100 has fallen short of meeting these needed protections for our customers,” Southern California Edison officials stated last September in a memo including PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric Company urging a no vote from the Assembly.

A spokesperson with Southern California Edison wrote in an email that the proposal won't protect customers from rising electricity costs associated with going 100 percent renewable.  

The bill will also be tough to pass because it won't allow nuclear power plants and natural gas to provide electricity. Around 36 percent of the state’s electricity comes from natural gas.