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... Over the last few years, California has quietly but dramatically increased the resiliency of its electrical grid through a significant expansion in battery energy storage.

These batteries hold onto solar energy captured during the day, so it can be sent to the grid as demand peaks in the evening and morning, when most people are at home running air conditioners and other appliances. ...

According to Ackemann, the system seeks to add another 20,000 to 25,000 megawatts of battery storage capacity by 2045 -- the same year it has set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality. That means the state would remove as many carbon emissions from the atmosphere as it emits.

Hitting that goal will require increasing the supply of renewable energy and transitioning away from the use of natural gas, which supplies roughly a third of the state's electricity.

In recent years, California has steadily grown the share of electrical power generated by renewable sources -- such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower -- which bolstered the resiliency of the grid by increasing the overall amount of energy available. An uptick in people installing rooftop solar panels has provided an additional power boost, Ackemann said.

In May, California became the first known large-scale power system in the world to have relied on more than 50% solar power for an entire month. ...