California Energy Grid Has Gone Green – But is That Enough to Meet the Needs of a Warming California

California has a big vision for the future of clean energy. This year, renewable energy sources met 100% of the state’s energy demand for 97 of 115 days.

California’s policies have created a resilient California energy grid with an abundance of clean energy that can be used to power batteries, produce clean electricity, and electrify hard-to-decarbonize end uses. As we decarbonize all sectors of the economy, renewable hydrogen has become the most critical component on our path to building the sustainable green energy ecosystem of the future.

To achieve economy-wide decarbonization and air quality benefits for all communities–along with job growth, economic leadership, and prominence on the world stage–California needs to institutionalize hydrogen as a pivotal piece of its green energy transition. We need to look to California’s experience and success building out renewables, where resources such as solar and wind power, along with hydro and batteries, are now the lowest-cost electricity providers on our grid.

Renewable hydrogen is a fuel produced by using electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, often using solar energy. Hydrogen fuel is literally ‘sunshine in a bottle.’ This clean hydrogen fuel, in turn, allows the state to fully decarbonize all sectors of the economy using renewable electricity to produce a carbon free fuel while maintaining California’s economic and environmental leadership, empowering communities, curbing climate change, creating high quality jobs, and improving system reliability and resiliency.

Federal support is crucial, but it is state governments, particularly California, that will truly drive the global hydrogen market forward. Governor Newsom has announced the goal of 90% clean energy by 2035 and a carbon neutral economy by 2045. To achieve these ambitious goals, we need to rely on carbon free fuel like hydrogen to supplement areas where traditional sources of clean energy and direct electrification fall short. In sectors like heavy duty trucking, shipping, aviation, agriculture, and high heat industrial processes, which are difficult and/or expensive to electrify, renewable hydrogen is the logical solution.

Indeed, some hydrogen development has already begun. California is already the second largest user of hydrogen in the nation, but there is a long way to go before the state reaches net carbon neutrality and its air quality goals.

Fortunately, the momentum for hydrogen has already started. In October of 2023, California was awarded $1.2 billion in federal funding for the deployment of a “hydrogen hub,” from the US Department of Energy’s nationwide allotment of $7.2 billion for hydrogen development and deployment. The “Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems” (ARCHES) is California’s hydrogen hub with the goals of advancing and stimulating the zero-carbon economy, providing $2.9 billion in health benefits, developing a clean energy workforce by nearly a quarter million jobs, and increasing the quality of life for all Californians. ARCHES has leveraged the federal funding with another $10 billion in private and public investments to develop a sustainable statewide hydrogen ecosystem and marketplace.

Now that the state has the resources to accelerate the transition to net zero, smart, mindful choices in policy, funding, and deployment to support hydrogen will be essential for California’s continued leadership. If we think small and don’t invest in the future now, we will not be able to meet our climate, air quality and economic goals.

As California moves forward towards a greener future, the state’s support will be vital in realizing networks of hydrogen producers, protecting the environment, and keeping the economy strong.

Author’s Bio:

CEO, Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems” (ARCHES), Chairperson, California Independent System Operator, Renewable Energy Grid Management and Clean Tech Policy and Regulatory Expert, US Department of State

Angelina Galiteva, Special to California Business Journal