A total reliance on renewable energy would require a major expansion of storage capacity for those times when the wind dies down
and the sun fades, said Sadrul Ula, managing director of U. C.
Riverside’s Winston Chung Global Energy Center.
Last week, the State Senate leader, Kevin de León, quietly introduced legislation
that would require California to get all of its electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources by 2045.
“But not implausible.”
“Last year, Germany was able to briefly meet 95 percent of the country’s electricity demand with renewables,” Mr. Mormann said.
Cost is one, said Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at U. C.
Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment.
It’s “ambitious,” said Felix Mormann, a faculty fellow at Stanford’s Steyer–Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.