California Energy Commission chair credits storage, rooftop solar and stable policy for clean‑energy gains
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Summary
David Hochschild told the Environment and Transportation Committee that California’s rapid growth in renewables and storage—backed by long‑term policies and community benefits agreements—has increased reliability, expanded EV charging and improved battery safety and local preparedness.
David Hochschild, chair of the California Energy Commission, told the committee that California has accelerated clean‑energy deployment through sustained policy, permitting changes and investment in storage and charging infrastructure.
Hochschild said California today gets about 70% of its electricity from carbon‑free sources and has roughly 105 gigawatts of utility‑scale capacity on the grid. He credited a recent period of substantial builds—about 30 gigawatts added during the governor’s tenure—for increasing system flexibility, and he said energy storage played a central role in preventing outages during recent high‑load summers. He described an outcome in which parts of the state achieved 100% carbon‑free electricity for several hours on a number of days, enabled by storage and dispatch coordination.
Hochschild highlighted several concrete programs: required solar on new construction for homes and commercial buildings (yielding roughly 1 GW of rooftop solar from new builds annually), a 1.2 GW virtual power plant that aggregates behind‑the‑meter systems, and an Oakland school‑bus electrification pilot where buses charge and feed power back to the grid. He noted a large grid‑scale battery project (referred to in the briefing as a multi‑billion‑dollar, fast‑track project) and work to lower battery costs through R&D and manufacturing investments.
On safety, Hochschild recounted an early generation of battery projects that used higher‑temperature chemistries and indoor stacked configurations without telemetry; he said codes, a statewide battery safety task force with CAL FIRE and a market shift toward LFP chemistry with outdoor enclosures and telemetry have materially reduced risks. He added that large projects include community benefits agreements that fund local priorities, including grants and equipment for fire departments and dedicated responder training.
Hochschild also addressed data centers and electrification: he said California supports data‑center development but is mindful of rate impacts, and he described co‑location of storage with fast chargers as a cost‑effective tool to avoid costly distribution upgrades. He closed by urging sustained, long‑term policy to provide certainty that unlocks private R&D and scale.
Next steps: The chair offered to work with committee members on technical follow‑ups and emphasized that safety codes, community benefits and training will remain priorities as storage projects continue to be sited and permitted.
