Blackouts and California’s Clean Energy Transition

The policy brief addresses the 2020 California blackouts, refuting claims that renewable energy caused the outages. It identifies climate-driven extreme heat and the failure of gas generators as contributing factors. The author argues that a diverse mix of resources, including battery storage and green hydrogen, is necessary to ensure 21st-century grid reliability.

• The August 2020 blackouts in California were influenced by a historic heat wave in the Western United States, where Death Valley reached 130°F, the highest temperature in over a century. The document asserts that a grid designed for 20th-century weather is now inadequate for worsening 21st-century extreme events driven by climate change.
• Fossil fuel generation contributed to the outages; specifically, gas generators tripped offline during the event. The document notes that thermal plants (coal, gas, and nuclear) often experience lower capacity during heat waves because the water required for cooling becomes too warm.
• Battery storage is identified as a critical tool for meeting evening peak demand. In July 2020, California had 216 MW of batteries in commercial operation, with a projected increase to 923 MW by the end of the year. The document suggests these planned batteries could have helped prevent the 1 GW of load shedding that occurred in two 500 MW waves on a single Friday.
• Grid resilience requires moving away from a centralized, fossil-dominated resource portfolio toward a diverse mix of flexible resources. This includes solar PV for midday peaks, battery storage for fast-ramping evening demand, and dispatchable resources like green hydrogen and demand flexibility.

APA

RMI (2020). Blackouts and California’s Clean Energy Transition. https://rmi.org/resources/blackouts-and-californias-clean-energy-transition/

Chicago

RMI. Blackouts and California’s Clean Energy Transition. 2020. https://rmi.org/resources/blackouts-and-californias-clean-energy-transition/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Blackouts and California’s Clean Energy Transition |date=18 August 2020 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/blackouts-and-californias-clean-energy-transition/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2020blackouts, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Blackouts and California’s Clean Energy Transition}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/blackouts-and-californias-clean-energy-transition/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }