From one million rooftops to a smarter, more resilient grid—how customer solar is powering the next era of clean energy

OAKLAND, Calif., June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced that it has surpassed 1 million customers with solar systems connected to its electric grid—more than any utility in the United States—marking a defining moment in the evolution of customer‑driven clean energy in California.

This milestone reflects decades of customer choice, policy leadership, and grid innovation as solar moved from an expensive niche technology to a cornerstone of California's energy system. Customer solar adoption has evolved from limited activity in the 1990s, to steady growth in the 2000s, to rapid expansion in the 2010s, culminating in more than half a million new interconnections between 2020-2025 and more than 70,000 new solar installations annually over the past two years.

Across Northern and Central California, families, businesses, farmers, schools, and communities have chosen to harness the sun—lowering emissions, increasing energy resilience, and reshaping how electricity is produced and used. Together, PG&E's solar customers represent one of the largest concentrations of customer sited, grid‑connected solar generation in the world, helping avoid millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions over time.

"PG&E supports solar at every scale and has enabled more solar adoption than any utility in the country," said Jason Glickman, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Growth, PG&E. "Reaching one million interconnections is ultimately a story about our customers—but it's also a story about what comes next. The future of solar is not just about producing clean electricity. It's about integrating solar and storage in ways that deliver value for all customers by strengthening the grid and improving resilience."

Beyond Adoption: Building the Foundation for the Grid of the Future
The story of one million solar customers is not just about clean energy adoption and generation - it marks a shift toward a fully integrated, customer‑powered energy system that treats rooftop solar as core grid infrastructure.

As customer sited solar scaled rapidly, PG&E's focus expanded beyond simply connecting these systems to also modernizing the grid for safe and reliable two-way power flows at an unprecedented scale. This includes investments in grid automation, advanced forecasting, streamlined interconnection, and the growing integration of solar paired with battery storage.

Together, these technologies are transforming millions of independent solar systems into a connected, responsive energy network—one that can flex with customer needs and grid conditions alike.

• PG&E helps customers understand and compare solar, battery storage, and other clean energy options through tools such as the Clean Energy Calculator, a personalized resource designed to help customers decide if and when these technologies are right for them: www.pge.com/cleanenergycalculator.

Virtual Power Plants: Solar That Shows Up When the Grid Needs It
That future is already taking shape through the expansion of virtual power plants (VPPs)—networks of customer‑owned solar and battery systems that can be dispatched in coordination to support the grid during periods of high demand or local constraints.

At the customer level, VPPs are built around efficiency, resilience, and choice. Solar power is used in the home first, batteries store energy for evening use and outages, and then VPP programs allow participating customers to share excess energy with the grid in ways that support reliability and reduce overall system strain.

In 2025, PG&E helped prove that aggregations of customer batteries can respond quickly and reliably to real‑world grid conditions—reinforcing the role customers can play as active participants in grid operations.

PG&E along with Sunrun, Tesla, San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and the California Energy Commission organized the largest coordinated demand response test in history: for two hours (from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. on July 29, 2025) the VPP delivered 535 megawatts of electricity to the grid. That's enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes during peak demand.

The test proved that thousands of customer‑owned batteries can perform like a single, large power plant when the grid needs it most. Through programs like Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) and the Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP), these aggregated batteries continue to be ready to show up at scale to support reliability during emergency grid conditions and periods of high demand.

PG&E and Sunrun also completed a successful hyper-local VPP deployment, dispatching energy from solar‑plus‑storage homes to provide targeted grid relief. The effort demonstrated how customer systems, when integrated intelligently, can operate like a clean, flexible power plant—helping reduce peak demand, improve reliability, and lower overall system costs.

"Working together, Sunrun and PG&E have built grid-support programs that allow California families—including middle- and lower-income households—to produce, store, and share their own energy with their communities," said Paul Dickson, Sunrun President and Chief Revenue Officer. "We look forward to further collaborations with PG&E to put Sunrun's flexible energy infrastructure to work for the benefit of all California residents."

These efforts signal a broader industry shift: from a one‑way grid to an interactive system where customer energy resources are increasingly part of the solution.

Innovating Responsibly as New Solar plus Storage Technologies Emerge
PG&E is also preparing for the next wave of customer‑driven innovation--expanding access to solar while maintaining the safety and reliability Californians depend on.

Interest is growing in new forms of solar and storage—such as plug‑in systems—and legislatures and regulators are actively exploring how these technologies can expand access to clean energy, particularly for renters and underserved communities.

PG&E supports that innovation and believes every technology that connects to the grid must do so safely, transparently, and in coordination with established electrical standards.

Any device capable of exporting power—whether solar, storage, or another form of customer generation—must protect customers, neighbors, and the crews who work on the system every day.

Clear rules, modern codes, and thoughtful integration are essential to scaling the next generation of solar technologies without compromising safety or reliability.

"This is an exciting new clean energy milestone in California," said Stephan Scherer, CEO and co-founder of Craftstrom. "PG&E is leading the way to integrate technologies like plug-in solar and storage to give California residents innovative new ways to harness the power of the sun and participate in the renewable energy markets."

Scherer and Craftstrom participated in PG&E's 2025 Pitch Fest where they presented their plug-in technologies to PG&E decision makers as a customer resilience solution. Craftstrom was one of 57 organizations invited to the 2025 Pitch Fest out of more than 400 applicants.  

A Balanced Path Forward
Surpassing one million solar interconnections underscores a broader transformation underway in California's energy system:

The grid of the future will be more distributed, more digital, and more participatory—and customer‑owned solar, especially when paired with storage and connected through virtual power plants, will play a central role in delivering clean, reliable energy at scale.

• To learn more about how PG&E supports customers choosing solar, visit www.pge.com/solar

About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than sixteen million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com, pge.com/news and pge.com/innovation.

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SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company