Distributed generation & storage

Our approach

PG&E is committed to increasing the use of clean distributed energy to meet customer needs, while supporting California’s climate goals as well as our own.

We provide a variety of tools and resources for customers who want to use solar energy, other distributed generation, and storage. Customers can learn about the process for adopting solar and determine if solar is right for them. PG&E also offers other benefits to customers, including resiliency and clean energy programs; incentive programs for fuel cells, wind, and battery storage; and solar programs for general and income-qualified customers.

In 2023, PG&E launched the Solar Billing Plan, a new program that encourages customers to pair storage with rooftop solar to help reduce their monthly electric bill by storing excess energy generated by their solar system for later use. (This replaced the Net Energy Metering program.)

DERMS initiative

We’re deploying an enterprise Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS). We started with an initial foundational platform that, in the coming years, will be built upon and scaled toward the long-term objective of orchestrating distributed energy resources (DER) on the grid.

Our initial focus is on increasing visibility of DERs such as solar, batteries, and flexible loads; accelerating customer connections to the grid; and maximizing the use of existing grid capacity on constrained distribution circuits.

2023 milestones

Community renewables programs

PG&E has extensive offerings for customers who are unable to install on-site generation. Our community renewables programs give customers the option to purchase up to 100% of their electricity from renewable resources.

Sustainability Highlight

PG&E’s Community Microgrid Enablement Program helps communities overcome the technical, financial, legal, and regulatory challenges involved in deploying multi-customer community microgrids. Through enhanced technical support and cost offsets for certain distribution system upgrades, the program assists communities in building resilience that fits their unique needs.

Additionally, we launched our Microgrid Incentive Program—providing funding, expertise, and guidance for building community, local, and tribal government-proposed multi-customer microgrids. This new, statewide $200 million competitive grant program will fund clean-energy community microgrids in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.

Building community resilience

Partnered with Sunrun on the Peak Power Rewards program, an innovative residential distributed power plant comprised of 8,500 solar-plus-storage residential systems, which frequently supplied the grid with up to 30 MW of power during evening peak hours between August and October.
Continued our resiliency partnership with the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC) through the Disability Disaster Access and Resources Program to deliver a readiness program that supports people with disabilities, older adults, and customers who use durable medical equipment and assistive technology that is required to live independently. In 2023, CFILC completed over 1,100 assessments and provided over 800 portable batteries to qualifying customers.
Supported clean temporary generation solutions through a variety of pilot programs aimed at enhancing grid reliability during PSPS events and broader grid outages. These initiatives include clean energy solutions with mobile battery storage and vehicle-to-grid technology integrated at community microgrids.
Pursued a long-duration energy storage system that will use green hydrogen fuel cells and batteries, rather than diesel, to provide a long-term backup power solution for customers in downtown Calistoga during PSPS events.

Advancing clean technologies

Helped customers build resilience using energy storage through our Self-Generation Incentive Program. We have completed over 22,000 storage interconnections resulting in about $984 million in total payments from 2001 through 2023.
Supported customer solar thermal technology through our California Solar Initiative (CSI)-Thermal Program. While the program is now closed to new applicants, PG&E provided over $5 million in statewide incentive payments in 2023.

Sustainability Highlight

To support resiliency during PSPS events, we provide free portable backup battery solutions to Medical Baseline customers and self-identified vulnerable customers who have durable medical equipment or assistive technologies and have been frequently impacted by either PSPS or EPSS events. Since the program launched in 2020, we have completed over 29,000 assessments and provided over 22,000 portable batteries to customers.

PG&E’s Fixed Power Solutions program provides permanent battery storage solutions for residential customers on the circuits most impacted by EPSS. Since launching in 2022, PG&E has installed over 470 permanent batteries for residential customers. PG&E is also providing automatic transfer switches and temporary generation to K-12 schools on the circuits most impacted by EPSS. We installed six switches at various schools by the end of 2023.

Measuring progress

In 2023, we reached more than 800,000 customer-sited solar systems, after interconnecting over 100,000 new systems for the second consecutive year. This represents 8,000 MW of customer-sited solar. Despite the increase, PG&E maintained efficient interconnection timelines, averaging thirty days for business customers and less than eleven days for residential customers.

Additionally, through 2023, over 70,000 customers have installed battery storage at their homes or businesses, equivalent to over 670 MW of capacity.

This website and the messages contained in its webpages are funded by shareholders.