Newsom signs bills, rejects proposal

Even though the state recorded its hottest July on record, California recently reached a clean energy milestone: There were 100 days this year when 100% electricity came from renewable energy for at least part of the day, writes CalMatters climate reporter Alejandro Lazo.

The data comes from Mark Jacobson, a professor of engineering at Stanford University. The period was marked by two significant events for energy supply: a heat wave on the Fourth of July weekend and a solar eclipse on April 8, which led to a reduction in solar power generation and increased grid demand.

This milestone was achieved largely through public and private sector investment in batteries to store solar power. After China, California has the world's largest battery supply, with more than 10,000 megawatts of battery capacity – enough to power about 9 to 12 million homes, although not all at the same time.

But the state still has a long way to go if it is to meet its goal of generating 100 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2045. A member of the state's energy commission estimates that to reach that goal, California may need to more than double its energy generation capacity by then, which would mean adding about 6,000 to 8,000 megawatts of new energy sources per year.

Learn more about the state's clean energy efforts in Alejandro's story.

Speaking of climate solutions: California's largest source of electricity remains natural gas, which emits greenhouse gases and air pollutants. To track the pollutants, the state launched a satellite on Friday that tracks “super emitters” such as methane.

The project has been in the planning stages for at least six years, with then-Governor Jerry Brown saying in 2018 that California would “launch our own damn satellite” to track emissions. In a statement, Newsom said the launch was “just the beginning” and that the state would put more satellites into orbit “in the years to come.”

In collaboration with the state, a coalition led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper, Inc. developed the satellite, using technology from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles County and Planet Labs PBC, a San Francisco-based imaging company.