California has so many inventive people and access to capital. Maybe this could be the impetus that would let them and us kick the hydrocarbon habit.
There's a huge reliance on hydroelectric power, one nuclear power plan (Diablo Canyon), as well as a huge amount of imported power from Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Canada hydro projects. Plus numerous peaking plants (one near Hunter's Point in San Francisco, Moss Landing north of Monterey, off the top of my head), and an increasing amount of wind and solar.
A map of major transmission lines in the state helps show this:
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_gri...
With populations as large and concentrated and distributed as they are (roughly half of the state lives in LA-SD, half the rest in SF-OAK-SJ, half the rest in Sacramento-Stockton, and the remainder scattered throughout the state), it's hard to match generation and load. You can't park enough large plants near the big cities, you can't get enough small plants scattered around the countryside. Dams are difficult to relocate, for obvious reasons.
Localised generation has costs and risks, particularly if fueled. Renewable sources can be built, but have their own reliability issues, many of which are addressed through storage, where that is best served by pumped hydro, so again, you're schlepping large volumes of power over the state rather than having a locally-contained grid.
Incidentally, the Kinkaid fire started at or near a major renewable generating facility, The Geysers power plan near Healdsburg / Geyserville. That's actually among the largest and oldest geothermal generating installations in the world. Sparking transmission equipment in the area, possibly related to the plant, may be in part responsible for the blaze.
As is often the case, a part of the proposed solution may well be part of the problem.
> kick the hydrocarbon habit
Then build solar in the desert and offshore wind. The power company can do these cheaper than you on the individual scale. In the past decade, coal use has actually dropped 50% (mostly replaced by natural gas), so there's progress on the hydrocarbon front.
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-reduces-solar-powerwall-pric...