Six new community microgrid projects will share $30 million from the second round of Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Microgrid Incentive Program and serve more than 2,200 customers. With the nine first-round projects, authorized investment exceeds $73 million, and a Pescadero microgrid will pair about 1.5 MW of solar with a 2 MW BESS.
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Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), a California-based gas and electric utility, has named six new community microgrids that will share $30 million. Customers in Humboldt, Sonoma, San Mateo, Butte, Placer and El Dorado counties are among the more than 2,200 the projects will serve. Awards run from $2 million to $6 million apiece under the second application window of PG&E's Microgrid Incentive Program (MIP).
The round mixes solar, battery storage, biomass and biodiesel. Schools, fire stations and health centers are among the facilities the systems will support. One of the six is already under way in Pescadero, a remote town on the San Mateo coast, where WestLight Energy, formerly Peninsula Clean Energy, is leading the work. Its microgrid will combine roughly 1.5 MW of solar with a 2 MW BESS and is designed to run on its own for at least 24 hours. More than 200 customers are covered. WestLight Energy and the County of San Mateo are adding their own funding.
First-round work is moving too. Awardees on several of the nine projects chosen last time have executed grant agreements, which set the terms for paying out money for engineering, design and development. PG&E announced $43 million for those nine projects in 2025, and counting both rounds, authorized community microgrid investment is now above $73 million. Three of the first-round projects are in Lake County. Known as Firemain Linked Auxiliary Supply/Hydraulic Energy Storage (FLASHES), they would use solar power to pump water into roofed tanks at higher elevation and release it through turbines when electricity is needed. Geotechnical core boring and test well drilling are planned over the coming months.
"PG&E is proud to partner with communities by providing incentives, technical support and the safe interconnection needed to bring these projects to life," said Dave Canny, Head of PG&E's North Coast Region.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company is part of PG&E Corporation. More than 16 million people over 70,000 square miles get their gas or electricity from it. PG&E has $79.2 million to award from the $200 million statewide MIP that California's Public Utilities Commission approved, capped at $14 million for any one project.