The utility’s Smart Home Assets for Reliability and Efficiency initiative, known as SHARE, will combine existing residential batteries and smart energy devices with newly installed electrification technologies. Nearly 21,000 flexible devices are expected to participate through Tesla, Sunrun and Renew Home, while hundreds of additional households could receive discounted electric upgrades.
The first resources are expected to begin supporting the grid in fall 2026, with the proof-of-concept program running through 2027. For utilities and grid planners, the bigger question is not whether these devices can be connected, but whether they can perform consistently enough to count as dependable capacity.
Electricity demand is climbing as transportation, buildings and businesses shift toward greater electrification. Utilities still need conventional transmission and distribution investment, but SHARE is testing whether customer-owned equipment can help stretch existing infrastructure further during periods of high demand.
The program will focus on parts of Santa Clara and Alameda counties, rather than spreading resources across PG&E’s wider service territory. That location-specific approach matters. PG&E and Demand Side Analytics plan to coordinate participating devices in areas where reducing or shifting electricity use could have a more direct impact on regional transmission constraints.
If thousands of batteries, heat pumps and other devices can respond predictably during peak periods, distributed energy resources could become more useful in long-term grid planning. The challenge will be proving they can deliver capacity with enough consistency to sit alongside traditional infrastructure options rather than simply acting as an occasional demand-response resource.
The financing model also sets SHARE apart. Google is funding customer incentives, technology deployment and program delivery, meaning those costs will not be directly recovered from PG&E customers through the pilot.
That structure creates an interesting test for large electricity users facing growing grid constraints of their own. Instead of relying only on utilities to expand infrastructure, major power consumers could help finance distributed resources that free up capacity in the areas where demand is increasing. The outcome may offer an early indication of whether that model can work beyond a single demonstration project.
Rewiring America will oversee household engagement and deployment of new equipment, while Carrier will provide battery-enabled variable-speed heat pumps for some participating homes. These systems can shift when electricity is consumed while continuing to provide heating and cooling, turning one of the home’s larger electrical loads into a more flexible resource.
For residents, participation will depend on whether incentives, lower energy costs and resilience benefits are compelling enough to keep equipment enrolled and available during grid events. That customer side of the equation is critical: a virtual power plant only works as a capacity resource if enough households continue participating when the grid needs them.
Virtual power plants have gained attention because they can aggregate batteries, thermostats, EV chargers and other distributed devices into a resource that behaves more like a conventional power plant. SHARE pushes that concept further by targeting resources in locations where grid flexibility may be particularly valuable.
PG&E will assess customer impacts, system performance and potential economic benefits, with initial findings expected in late 2026 or early 2027. Those results should show whether the program creates measurable capacity and cost benefits, rather than merely demonstrating that thousands of devices can be coordinated.
The model could eventually expand to commercial, industrial and larger-scale energy resources. But SHARE remains a proof of concept, not a replacement for grid investment. Its relevance to other utilities will depend on three practical measures: how much dependable capacity participating homes can provide, whether that capacity shows up during the most constrained hours, and whether the economics remain attractive at a larger scale.
If those pieces hold together, location-specific virtual power plants could give utilities another option for managing fast-moving demand growth while larger infrastructure projects work their way through planning, permitting and construction.
