California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) on September 3 announced SHARE (Smart Home Assets for Reliability and Efficiency), a first-of-its-kind virtual power plant designed to help communities benefit from rising electric demand, while improving affordability and reliability for all customers.
PG&E, together with Rewiring America, Google, Carrier Global Corporation, Tesla, Sunrun, Renew Home, Demand Side Analytics, encoord and other partners, will deploy the new VPP—a coordinated network of home batteries, smart devices, and battery-enabled heat pumps that reduce energy use during periods of high demand—in communities around the San Francisco Bay Area.
The model is designed to create additional capacity, support reliability and help put downward pressure on rates while participating households save money through smarter energy management with next-generation home technology. SHARE is a first-of-its-kind VPP proof-of-concept that combines enrollment of existing home energy devices with regional deployment of privately funded new electrification technologies to address growing electric demand.
“This is about delivering power at the speed our economy demands—while improving affordability and reliability for the people we serve,” said Chelle Izzi, chief commercial officer, PG&E. “SHARE shows how investing in customers can unlock grid capacity, support growth, and bring real benefits back to communities.”
A New Approach to Meeting Rising Demand
Electric demand is rising across the country as more businesses, vehicles, homes and buildings rely on electricity. PG&E continues to aggressively build and modernize the electric system to meet long-term growth, including needed transmission and distribution investments.
SHARE adds a complementary, near-term pathway: investing directly in homes located where energy demand is growing. This proof-of-concept VPP is designed to demonstrate how targeted investments in homes can help:
- Improve reliability and lower costs by making better use of everyday, flexible home energy resources alongside continued grid investment.
- Expand capacity during periods of high demand.
- Support new and growing energy users more quickly.
PG&E is working with Tesla, Sunrun, and Renew Home to enroll nearly 21,000 existing flexible energy devices into the program. This will allow participating households to gain new ways to manage their energy costs and earn rewards for the smart features they already use, while shifting demand during peak periods helping make better use of existing infrastructure, benefiting customers across the region. The resource is expected to begin supporting the grid as early as fall 2026.
“Home energy devices hold enormous, untapped capacity that can meaningfully improve affordability and reliability for all Californians,” said Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun. “This initiative unlocks that potential while giving customers an opportunity to share in the economic benefits of helping improve their local grid.”
Carrier is the initiative’s launch partner for the new deployments, providing its battery-enabled heat pump solution, including the Carrier Performance Series Variable-Speed Heat Pump with EnerSync, that automatically stores and shifts energy use to help lower costs for customers, maintain comfort, and support grid reliability during periods of peak demand.
“As energy demand grows, SHARE demonstrates how Carrier can help deliver distributed capacity with the firmness to scale as a fast and reliable grid resource,” said Hakan Yilmaz, president, Carrier Energy & Chief Sustainability Officer. “Carrier’s battery-enabled HVAC technology brings together our trusted comfort, market presence and dealer scale to help deliver homeowner value and reliable grid flexibility.”
Eligible customers in Santa Clara and Alameda counties will have the opportunity to receive:
- New Carrier high-efficiency, battery-enabled heat pumps.
- Lower monthly energy bills through smarter energy management.
- Greater comfort and improved home resilience.
All told, these resources will be orchestrated into a distributed power plant by PG&E and Demand Side Analytics with the goal of unlocking additional capacity on the regional electric transmission system.
Designed to Protect Customers
SHARE reflects a shared commitment to responsible energy growth and is structured so that existing customers benefit from growing grid capacity needs. The program will be fully funded by Google to support customer incentives, technology deployment, and program delivery.
“As demand scales, our current electricity grid can bridge the gap—if we optimize it correctly,” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Global Head of Energy & Power at Google. “This program unlocks the potential of local distributed energy resources to strengthen grid capacity and resiliency while delivering meaningful benefits for local communities.”
Rewiring America will work directly with households to deploy and enroll energy-saving electric technologies into SHARE that can serve as flexible grid resources while improving the customer experience. They will also work closely with local installers to ensure projects meet high quality and performance standards.
“This initiative shows how households can be part of the energy solution,” said Ari Matusiak, founder and CEO of Rewiring America. “By helping families upgrade their homes with efficient electric technologies, we can lower costs, improve comfort, and optimize California’s grid capacity at the same time.”
PG&E will lead planning, analysis, and validation to evaluate customer impacts, system performance and long-term benefits.
A Model for California—and Beyond
SHARE represents a new way for utilities, customers and technology partners to work together to help meet electricity growth reliably and affordably through smarter utilization of the grid. This location-based approach is designed to inform future solutions for transmission constraints, local capacity challenges and rising demand across the electric system.
Over time, the proof of concept could expand beyond residential customers to include commercial, industrial, and utility-scale applications—supporting economic growth, improving grid utilization and lowering emissions.
PG&E and Rewiring America will begin reaching out to eligible customers starting fall 2026. SHARE is expected to run through 2027, with initial findings from the program expected to be shared in late 2026 or early 2027.
—This content was contributed by the communications team for PG&E. To learn more and explore program eligibility, visit https://energyshare.rewiringamerica.org/
Facts Only
* California utility Pacific Gas and Electric announced SHARE on September 3.
* SHARE is a virtual power plant for Smart Home Assets for Reliability and Efficiency.
* The VPP will deploy home batteries, smart devices, and battery-enabled heat pumps in communities around the San Francisco Bay Area.
* Partners include Rewiring America, Google, Carrier Global Corporation, Tesla, Sunrun, Renew Home, Demand Side Analytics, and encoord.
* SHARE aims to reduce energy use during high demand periods.
* The model seeks to create additional capacity and support reliability while lowering rates.
* PG&E is working with Tesla, Sunrun, and Renew Home to enroll nearly 21,000 flexible energy devices.
* Carrier provided battery-enabled heat pump solutions as a launch partner.
* Eligible customers in Santa Clara and Alameda counties may receive new heat pumps and lower monthly bills.
* The resource is expected to support the grid as early as fall 2026, with initial findings shared in late 2026 or early 2027.
Executive Summary
Pacific Gas and Electric announced SHARE, a virtual power plant designed to address rising electric demand by utilizing home assets for reliability and affordability. This initiative involves deploying a coordinated network of home batteries, smart devices, and battery-enabled heat pumps in communities around the San Francisco Bay Area, partnering with entities like Rewiring America, Google, and Carrier Global Corporation. The model aims to create additional capacity and support reliability while reducing rates through smarter energy management by participating households.
SHARE functions as a proof-of-concept combining existing home energy devices with new electrification technologies deployed regionally. PG&E is working with partners to enroll nearly 21,000 flexible energy devices. Carrier is involved in providing battery-enabled heat pump solutions that help store and shift energy use. Eligible customers in Santa Clara and Alameda counties will receive new heat pumps and benefits from energy management. The program seeks to unlock distributed energy resources to strengthen grid capacity and resilience.
Full Take
The narrative positions decentralized, customer-owned energy assets as a direct and viable mechanism for utility infrastructure challenges, shifting the focus from centralized grid expansion to distributed resource utilization. The core tension lies between the centralized role of established utilities like PG&E and the decentralized power offered by consumer engagement and private technology deployment. This framework suggests that reliability and growth are not solely solvable through massive transmission investments but can be addressed through localized flexibility.
The emphasis on "unlocking grid capacity" reflects a structural shift where system constraints are reframed as untapped residential potential. The involvement of diverse technology partners—from HVAC providers like Carrier to energy analytics firms like Demand Side Analytics—suggests an attempt to create an integrated ecosystem where distributed physical assets (batteries, heat pumps) interface with operational systems (the grid). The role of Google in funding incentives introduces a layer of external financial structuring that must be examined regarding long-term sustainability and the actual cost burden on participating households versus the net community benefit.
A key pattern observed is the framing of growth as an obstacle requiring immediate technological solutions, which is then answered by offering customer incentives for participation. This moves the discussion from infrastructure planning to consumer action. The implication is that system reliability can be achieved through incentivizing behavioral and asset shifts rather than purely top-down engineering mandates. A critical question remains: how effectively does this model account for equitable deployment, ensuring that benefits disproportionately accrue to those with existing access to smart technology and capital for home upgrades, versus exacerbating existing socio-economic inequalities in energy access and management. What metrics are being used to ensure that "smarter utilization" translates into meaningful affordability gains across all demographics?
Sentinel — Human
The text reads like a professionally prepared press release detailing a complex public-private energy initiative, demonstrating strong internal coordination rather than generic AI generation.