LOS ANGELES, California: California officials have announced that renewable electricity, mainly generated by solar power produced along Interstate 10, an hour east of the Coachella Valley, has nearly met the state's demand for power for the first time.

Anna Gonzales, spokeswoman for California Independent System Operator, a non-profit organization that oversees the state's bulk electric power system and transmission lines, said, "At 2:50 pm, we reached 99.87 percent of load served by all renewables, which broke the previous record," adding that solar power provided two-thirds of the amount needed.

As they watched the tracker edge to 100 percent and slightly beyond, environmentalists, who have campaigned for years for all of California's power to come from renewables, celebrated.

Dan Jacobson, senior adviser to Environment California, tweeted, "California busts past 100 percent on this historic day for clean energy!"

"Once it hit 100 percent, we were very excited. California solar plants play a really big role," said Laura Deehan, executive director for Environment California.

The environmental group also helped achieve the goal of having some 1 million solar rooftops in California, which some say is more environmentally-friendly than the solar farms, which occupy large areas of the Mojave desert and fragile landscapes.

In a statement, Deehan said more needs to be done, especially at the federal level, stressing, "Despite incredible progress illustrated by the milestone this weekend, a baffling regulatory misstep by the Biden administration has advocates concerned about backsliding on California's clean energy targets."

However, a Department of Commerce inquiry into tariffs on imported solar panels is delaying the launch of thousands of megawatts of solar-storage projects in the state, Deehan said.