More Than 56% of California Electricity Demand Supplied by Wind, Water, & Solar in 2026

California's power grid is running on more renewable energy than ever. So far in 2026, wind, water, and solar (sources researchers group together as "WWS") have supplied more than 56% of all the electricity used on the state's main grid, run by CAISO. Stanford professor Mark Z. Jacobson, who tracks these numbers, says that on 18.5% of all hours this year, renewables actually produced more power than the state needed at that moment. And Saturday, September 13, marked the 187th day this year that renewable output hit 100% of demand at some point during the day.

For a homeowner, this doesn't change anything you need to do right away, but it's a sign of where the grid is headed. As more of California's electricity comes from solar and wind, the power in your outlets gets cleaner over time, even if you don't add any equipment yourself. It also points to why some utilities offer time-of-use rates or incentives to shift electricity use toward midday hours, when solar output is highest and prices tend to be lower.

The trend is also relevant if you're weighing an electric upgrade, like a heat pump for heating and cooling or an electric vehicle. The more renewable the grid becomes, the more those upgrades cut your actual carbon footprint, since the electricity powering them increasingly comes from wind, water, and solar rather than fossil fuels.