PG&E Microgrid Program

As part of PG&E’s remote grid program, Potelco served as general contractor on nine standalone microgrid systems built to replace long stretches of overhead distribution line in some of Northern and Central California’s highest fire risk areas. Each site operates under a 10 year operations and maintenance agreement with a 99.7% reliability requirement, backed by 24/7 monitoring and dispatch, long after construction wraps up.

Remote grids work differently than a traditional line hardening project. Instead of reinforcing or burying the existing distribution line, PG&E removes it entirely and replaces it with a small, self sufficient power system built right at the point of use. Each site Potelco built includes a solar array, battery energy storage, and a backup generator for extended periods of low sun, so the property stays powered independent of the larger grid.

Potelco worked alongside ELM MicroGrid, which supplied the battery energy storage systems and microgrid controls, and Cushing Terrell, which handled the civil, electrical, mechanical, and structural engineering across the program. Our crews were responsible for construction at each site, often in terrain that made access and logistics as much a part of the job as the build itself.

The six sites are part of a larger expansion of PG&E’s remote grid fleet, a program built to reduce wildfire risk and improve reliability for customers at the edges of the grid where traditional line hardening isn’t the most practical option. PG&E’s remote grid work was recognized in Fast Company’s 2024 World Changing Ideas Awards as the top honoree in the Energy category.