Research & development

Our R&D Strategy: shaping tomorrow's energy system

At PG&E, we are building a climate-resilient energy system for California's future. A system that starts with safety, even in the face of climate change. A system that harnesses the clean energy resources of today and tomorrow. A system that customers can rely on. But we cannot build this system alone. We need solutions and ideas from a broad spectrum of sources.

Our Research and Development (R&D) Strategy Report (PDF) outlines our nearly 70 highest priority challenges in building the next generation of California's energy infrastructure. The purpose of this Report is to enable deeper, cross-collaborative engagement with the entrepreneurial and research communities to identify, develop and deploy the novel solutions and technologies that will help PG&E address these identified challenges at scale. These challenges span the entire energy system, and align to six key areas:

• Integrated Grid Planning
• Supply and Load Management
• Electric Vehicles
• Gas
• Wildfire
• Undergrounding

Our new lean, swift innovation process

Innovation Summit 2023

PG&E's Innovation Summit 2023 on July 25, 2023 convened thousands of innovators, researchers, academics, investors, public servants, and others to collaborate on solutions to address the nearly 70 highest priority challenges identified in the PG&E R&D Strategy Report.

Recordings of the plenary and breakout sessions

Welcome to PG&E's Innovation Summit 2023
Jason Glickman, Executive Vice President of Engineering, Planning and Strategy at PG&E kicks off the company’s first ever Innovation Summit on July 25, 2023 at the Roundhouse Market and Conference Center in San Ramon, Calif. with a discussion around PG&E's history, its diverse service area, its approaches to R&D, and shares an overview of the current opportunities and focus areas for breakthrough thinking and collaboration in creating a 100% clean energy future 24x7x365.

R&D Strategy and Delivering a Clean Energy Future – PG&E Innovation Summit 2023
Quinn Nakayama, Senior Director Grid Research, Innovation and Development discusses PG&E’s R&D Strategy at the company's first ever Innovation Summit on July 25, 2023 at the Roundhouse Market and Conference Center in San Ramon, Calif.

Collaboration on Research and Funding – PG&E Innovation Summit 2023
Heather Rock, Senior Director of Strategy (PG&E), Rob Chapman, Senior Vice President of Energy Delivery and Customer Solutions/Chief Sustainability Officer (Electric Power Research Institute – EPRI), Leslie Rich, Senior Consultant, Loan Programs Office (U.S. Department of Energy – DOE), and Ron Snedic, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development (GTI Energy) discuss rethinking innovation in the utility industry; creating relationships; sharing and understanding each other's ideas; fostering innovation for entrepreneurs and startups; collaborating and problem solving at PG&E’s first ever Innovation Summit on July 25, 2023 at the Roundhouse Market and Conference Center in San Ramon, Calif.

Patti Poppe, PG&E CEO interviews Elon Musk, Tesla CEO at PG&E Innovation Summit 2023
Patti Poppe, CEO, PG&E Corporation discusses PG&E's Purpose, Virtues and Stands and the company’s 10-year True North Strategy and is joined by Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla for a discussion on electrification, artificial intelligence, digital super intelligence, and meeting the energy needs of tomorrow at PG&E's first-ever Innovation Summit on July 25, 2023 at the Roundhouse Market and Conference Center in San Ramon, Calif.

PG&E, Schneider Electric, Microsoft announce DERMS at PG&E Innovation Summit 2023
Patti Poppe, CEO, PG&E Corporation joins Annette Clayton, Chief Executive Officer Schneider Electric North America and Darryl Willis, Corporate Vice President, Energy & Resources Industry, Microsoft to announce and discuss the development and deployment of the companies’ new Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) at PG&E’s first ever Innovation Summit on July 25, 2023 at the Roundhouse Market and Conference Center in San Ramon, Calif.

How to Participate in PG&E’s R&D Strategy Initiative -- Innovation Summit 2023
Dan Gilani, Senior Manager of Emerging Technology Strategy & Programs at PG&E details the process for organizations to collaborate with PG&E on R&D priorities through its Pitch Fest at PG&E’s first ever Innovation Summit on July 25, 2023 at the Roundhouse Market and Conference Center in San Ramon, Calif.

Breakout session: Ensuring Affordable and Timely Connection for Every Residential Customer
Breakout session explores challenges related to connecting residential customers' EVs to PG&E's grid, from both the customer and PG&E perspective. Discussion will cover both single-family and multi-family use cases.

Breakout session: EVs: Ensuring Affordable and Timely Connection for Every Customer – DCFC & Fleets
Explore challenges related to connecting DCFCs and fleet customers to PG&E's grid, including capacity and load forecasting constraints and delays in getting new customers connected, from both the customer and PG&E perspective.

Breakout session: EVs: Unlocking the Potential of EVs as Grid Assets
This breakout session explores how both customers and PG&E can capitalize on the full potential of EVs as flexible grid assets, increasing resilience across PG&E's entire system.

Breakout session: Undergrounding: Civil Construction and Scalable Solutions
Dive into PG&E's 10K miles undergrounding program and explore the capabilities needed to streamline the undergrounding process including site survey and subsurface mapping, route design and planning and civil construction materials and installation.

Breakout session: Future of the Gas System: Clean Fuels
Covers the key areas of foundational research and technical innovation that are critical to navigating an orderly transition to the net zero gas system of the future.

Breakout session: Future of the Gas System: O&M Efficiencies
This breakout session covers the key areas of foundational research and technical innovation necessary to increase safety and efficiency of the gas system while maintaining affordability and reducing emissions.

Breakout session: Integrated Grid Planning: Reducing the need for conventional capacity upgrades
This breakout session outlines innovative solutions needed to maximize utilization of PG&E's current system in order to meet growing demand and support sustainable system growth.

Breakout session: Integrated Grid Planning: Optimizing prioritization and reducing costs
This breakout session dives deeper into PG&E's efforts to support unprecedented growth across the system by exploring novel approaches to grid planning needed to optimize investments in capacity upgrades and maximize safe reuse of existing infrastructure.

Breakout Session: Wildfire: Situational Awareness and Eliminating Ignitions
This breakout session dives deeper into PG&E's existing wildfire mitigation program and explore areas where current processes can be improved including inspections, maintenance, monitoring and de-energization schemes and situational awareness programs.

Breakout Session: Wildfire: Forestry and Vegetation Management
This breakout session explores PG&E's vegetation and forest management programs and cover key areas of research and technical innovation needed to create more targeted, holistic methods to minimize ignition risk.

Breakout Session: Supply and Load Management: Clean Supply and Energy Storage
This breakout session explores novel clean supply and energy storage technologies necessary to support anticipated load growth while maintaining reliability and affordability across PG&E's entire system.

Breakout Session: Supply and Load Management: Expanding Load Management Capabilities
A deep dive into the foundations needed to support comprehensive load management capabilities at the transmission, distribution and customer levels.