Due to the rise in solar energy acceptance across the country and problems caused by the California drought, solar power moved ahead of both wind and hydropower in terms of the percentage it represents in the state's overall energy usage.

Executive Director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association Bernadette Del Chiaro explained to Pete Danko at KQED News that the steady surge in solar energy adoption year after year in the state is attributed to, "financial incentives and ever-increasing requirements through the state's renewable portfolio standard [that] are driving the growth of renewable energy."

"Solar is the number one source of renewable energy in the state."

Data compiled by the California Independent System Operator, a leading major manager of 80 percent of the state's grid, proved that solar is the number one source of renewable energy in the state. Utility-scale solar power plants accounted for 6.7 of the company's total generated amount of electricity, though officials estimate that the percentage would be closer to 10 percent if privately owned installations were included in the data.

"Stanford University Professor Mark Jacobson's Solutions Project projects that California could get 100 percent of its power from renewables by 2050 with 13 percent from distributed solar, 41.5 percent from utility-scale solar power plants, 35 percent from onshore and offshore wind, 5 percent from geothermal, 4.5 percent from hydro and 1 percent from wave and tidal energies," Herman Trabish at Utility Drive explained. 

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