Tell your state leaders to accelerate the build-out of market-preferred solar and batteries!

In January through July 2025, solar power provided 39% of electricity generation for the entire state of California (a new record-high!) as fossil fuels (almost all gas) provided just 26% of generation, a new low. Grid-scale batteries are breaking records too, hitting 11 GW of simultaneous discharge to the grid in early August. California’s years-long build-out of solar and batteries is reaching escape velocity!

And as the ever-decreasing costs of the solar-plus-battery package keep compounding an unignorable economic advantage, some major developed economies are on track to go much further, very fast.  The leading grid operator of Australia reports that the country’s first day without burning coal for power may come fairly soon, as solar keeps surging and aging coal plants decline. Furthermore, Australia may be able to reach a full 100% renewable grid nationwide by the late 2030s, with 90% of coal capacity set to be gone by 2035.

“This is not a climate-zealot kind of approach.

Our old coal-fired power stations are breaking down; they’re retiring.

They’re getting replaced by the least-cost energy, which is renewable energy, backed with storage, connected in with transmission.

We’ll have a bit of gas there for the winter doldrums.

That is just what’s happening.”

— CEO Daniel Westerman of the Australian Energy Market Operator

It’s clearer by the day that solar plus battery storage is the clean, cheap, reliable, and fast-deploying power source that the market is incentivized to build around the world. In the U.S., the barriers to abundant clean energy are political. State leaders can make a big difference in untangling the red tape holding back solar build-out, as shown by exemplary recent bills deregulating plug-in solar in Utah and creating automated ultra-fast permitting in New Jersey. For the sake of lower electricity prices and cleaner air, policymakers need to rapidly act to ensure fast-acting and supportive legal, regulatory, and permitting structures for solar and battery build-outs!

Tell your state leaders to accelerate the build-out of market-preferred solar and batteries!