Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has announced plans to award up to $43 million in grant funding for nine new community microgrids across Northern and Central California. This initiative, part of California’s $200 million Microgrid Incentive Program (MIP), aims to enhance energy resilience in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities—particularly those facing heightened wildfire and outage risk.
Technical Highlights
- Project Locations: The selected microgrids are located in Humboldt County (4 projects), Lake County (3 projects), and Marin County (2 projects). Notably, four of the nine projects serve tribal communities.
- Funding Allocation: Roughly $34 million is reserved for front-of-the-meter DERs, including solar and battery energy storage systems, along with associated engineering, project management, and site development costs. Each project is also eligible for up to $1 million to support interconnection.
- Energy Technologies: These microgrids will integrate a mix of clean generation and long-duration energy storage technologies—including solar PV, lithium-ion batteries, pumped hydro, small-scale hydroelectric, and biomass-based systems.
Implications for Engineers and Energy Professionals
This deployment wave offers engineers the opportunity to work on:
- Feeder-level microgrid design and protection schemes
- Storage modeling for community-scale resilience
- Integration of diverse DERs in rural and tribal grids
- Advanced controls for island mode and seamless re-synchronization
It also reinforces the role of distribution system planning in community resilience and equity—giving professionals a chance to align technical innovation with public benefit.
Building Expertise for These Projects
For those looking to work on projects like these, the Microgrid Systems Certificate Program, developed by Telepath Systems and Cleveland State University, offers practical training in DER integration, microgrid control systems, and digital twin modeling.