This... doesn't have to be the case. Some markets already have way higher renewable penetration. Solar and wind represented about 20% of all generation in California in 2018 (https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/almanac/electricity_data/total_sys...). In the UK this year, solar and wind are almost 25% of generated electricity (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...)

Incremental improvement and economic forces do matter. Solar is now cheaper than coal in many climates, and we are seeing the effects.

Of course, there are still many problems to be solved. But we're also working on incrementally on solutions to those. For example, battery cost is falling precipitously. "grid scale battery" was not a thing a decade ago, now you see installations popping up regularly.

I'd like to see cold fusion as much as the next guy, but dismissing incremental progress is foolish.

Wind's about 20% in Texas, too, and growing.

http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/181766/IntGenbyFuel20...

The state produces by far the most electricity of any state, too. It's almost twice as much as Florida.

https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX

Unfortunately it's also a huge petroleum and natural gas producer. About half of the energy used in the state is for industrial use, much of it for the oil and gas industries. On the bright side, natural gas is displacing coal in the meantime while solar and wind are not replacing it fast enough. It needs to get better, but things could be much worse.

You are talking about electricity, not energy.

Electricity is only ~20% of the entire energy usage as far as I remember.