Where California Gets Its Electricity
Net generation by source · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
Generation mix
| Source | Share | Generation |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 33.8% | 67,170 GWh |
| Coal | 0.1% | 153 GWh |
| Nuclear | 9.2% | 18,383 GWh |
| Wind | 8.0% | 15,955 GWh |
| Solar | 28.4% | 56,581 GWh |
| Hydro | 13.3% | 26,451 GWh |
| Other | 7.2% | 14,268 GWh |
199 TWh generated over the 12 months to May 2026. Shares are of net generation within California, which is not the same as what the state consumes — power crosses state lines.
Counting rooftop solar
EIA reports small-scale solar — mostly rooftop panels on homes and businesses — separately, and leaves it out of the state generation total that the mix above is a share of. California generated 36,090 GWh that way. Counting it on both sides of the ratio takes solar from 28.4% to 39.4%.
How the mix has shifted since 2016
| Source | 2016 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 49.3% | 35.6% | −13.7 pts |
| Coal | 0.2% | 0.1% | — |
| Nuclear | 9.6% | 8.5% | −1.1 pts |
| Wind | 6.9% | 7.9% | +1.0 pts |
| Solar | 9.5% | 27.0% | +17.4 pts |
| Hydro | 14.7% | 13.5% | −1.2 pts |
| Other | 9.9% | 7.3% | −2.5 pts |
Compared with the U.S. and nearby states
California's generation mix in context
Natural gas supplied 33.8% of California's electricity generation in the twelve months from June 2025 to May 2026, making it the largest source. Solar ranked second with 28.4% from utility-scale installations alone, or 39.4% when rooftop solar is counted. Hydroelectric generation contributed 13.3%, while wind and nuclear supplied 8% and 9.2% respectively. Other sources, which include geothermal and biomass among smaller contributors, accounted for 7.2%.
Renewables made up 57.3% of the generation mix, ranking California ninth among the 51 states and DC with generation data. Carbon-free sources—renewables plus nuclear—reached 66.5%. This renewable share exceeded the national figure of 24.9% by 32.4 percentage points. Of California's three bordering states with generation data, Oregon had a higher renewable share at 68%, while Nevada at 43.7% and Arizona at 21.8% both fell below California's level.
Over the decade from 2016 to 2025, renewables grew from 39.9% to 55.8% of California's generation, a gain of 15.9 percentage points. Solar driving much of this growth, rising from 9.5% in 2016 to 27.0% in 2025. Natural gas fell sharply, declining from 49.3% in 2016 to 35.6% in 2025. Nuclear and hydroelectric each slid by more than a percentage point, while wind grew modestly by 1.0 percentage point. At the national level, gas remained the largest source at 40.8%, well above coal at 15.8% and nuclear at 17.7%, with renewables comprising just 24.9%.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›What percentage of California's electricity comes from renewable energy?
›What percentage of California's power comes from solar?
›Where does California get most of its electricity?
›Does California still burn coal for electricity?
›Is California getting greener?
How this is measured
Figures are net generation reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration for all sectors — utilities, independent power producers, and industrial and commercial plants that generate their own power. Shares are of the 12 months to May 2026, rather than a single month, because generation is strongly seasonal: solar peaks in summer and hydro with the spring melt, so one month says more about the weather than about the grid.
“Other” is the reported total minus the six named sources, so the shares add to exactly 100%. It holds geothermal, biomass, petroleum, other gases, and pumped storage — the last of which consumes more electricity than it returns, and so can be negative. Geothermal and biomass are renewable, which is why the renewable share above is slightly larger than wind, solar and hydro added together.
This is generation, not consumption. Electricity crosses state lines freely, so a state can generate more than it uses or rely on imports for a large part of its supply; neither shows up here.