Dive Brief:

• Solar generation in California hit a new daily record of 6,078 MW on May 31, according to the state's grid operator, besting the previous record set just two weeks before.
• The state's solar generation figures are likely even higher than reported by the ISO, The Desert Sun reports, as the figures do not include behind-the-meter installations or customer-owned rooftop generation, which by some estimates could add another 3,000 MW.
• Solar advocates say the state has at times been 50% powered by solar.

Dive Insight:

Solar records fall so quickly now that California's grid operator simply tweets the new peak rather than issuing a press release. The ISO said May 31's noon generation almost reached 6,100 MW, besting by just 6 MW the previous record set a dozen days before.

According to solar advocacy group Vote Solar, California is the most "robust and diverse" market in the United States, with more than 8.5 GW of solar capacity currently installed and the sector employing more than 54,000.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has set a 50% renewables target for the state to reach by 2030, a plan which will bank heavily on the use of solar generation. The state was the first to get more than 5% of its annual generation from utility-scale solar, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, with facilities of 1 MW of capacity or more generating a record 9.9 million MWh of electricity in 2014, about a 50% increase from the year before. The state's total installed utility-scale solar capacity was 5,400 MW at the end of 2014.