Flexible Service Connection allows customers with controllable power needs to connect to the grid without waiting for upgrades
OAKLAND, Calif., April 28, 2025 -- As more people in California buy electric cars and commercial fleets transition to EVs, the need grows for more places to charge them.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company has installed more than 6,300 EV charging ports throughout Northern and Central California through its infrastructure programs, and PG&E has come up with a new way to even more quickly connect EV fast-charging stations and grid-scale batteries.
PG&E's new Flexible Service Connection, or Flex Connect, allows customers with controllable power needs, like EV chargers, to connect to the grid without needing to wait for capacity upgrades.
Flex Connect uses PG&E's cloud-based Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) to coordinate a site's power demand based on when electricity supply is readily available. This solution allows a site to connect sooner, while PG&E completes necessary long-term infrastructure upgrades in the area. Developed and deployed in collaboration with Microsoft and Schneider Electric, PG&E's DERMS connects to the site's energy management system and sends an hourly power limit forecast a day in advance so that the customer can plan ahead.
"Our new Flexible Service Connection offering delivers individualized solutions that best meet customers' near-term needs, allowing them to connect without waiting for a physical infrastructure upgrade," said Mike Delaney, Vice President of Utility Partnerships and Innovation, PG&E. "Schneider Electric has proven to be a premier collaborator in developing and deploying DERMS and our advanced distribution management system, and we've now established a template for other utilities to deploy these capabilities right out of the box. This is what innovation and partnership looks like and now other utilities across the nation can benefit from the work happening here at PG&E and in California."
PG&E has so far expedited the connection of four sites through Flex Connect, with several more in development.
"We are excited to strengthen our growing partnership with PG&E to enhance infrastructure and accelerate the connection of EV fast-charging stations and grid-scale batteries" said Luis D'Acosta, Executive Vice President of Digital Energy at Schneider Electric. "Schneider Electric's DERMS provides PG&E with critical visibility, forecasting, and control to streamline grid connections for customers with dynamic power needs, while maintaining grid safety and reliability".
Powering new Tesla Supercharger sites
In early 2024, Tesla applied for PG&E electric service for several new Supercharger stations along key highway travel corridors. PG&E said it would take a few years to upgrade the grid to provide enough power where Tesla wanted the sites.
But if Tesla could be flexible with their power needs, they could connect the new fast chargers sooner.
Here's how it works:
- Tesla asks for 2 megawatts (MW) of power for a new Supercharger site.
- Most of the time, the grid can provide the full 2 MW. But during peak times, like hot summer evenings, the site would be limited to 0.5 MW.
- Normally, Tesla would have to wait for grid upgrades to get the full 2 MW year round.
- With Flex Connect, Tesla connects their charging site to PG&E's grid and DERMS, which adjusts the power based on availability (using a day-ahead forecast). This way, Tesla can get the full 2 MW right away and nearly all the time.
To date, Flex Connect has helped Tesla increase the capacity of two new Supercharger sites (in Santa Nella and Upper Lake, Calif.) with numerous additional sites in development.
Powering PepsiCo EV Semitruck Fleet
PepsiCo's bottling facility in Fresno, CA recently joined Flex Connect to get extra grid capacity sooner, enabling the site to increase the charging capabilities of its electric semi-truck fleet from approximately 30 trucks to the full fleet of 50.
Previously, the site was limited to 3 megawatts (MW) of capacity at night and zero MW during the day while waiting for long-term infrastructure upgrades. With Flex Connect, the facility now receives up to 4.5 MW most of the time, based on grid availability, providing critical daytime charging capabilities.
Through Flex Connect, PG&E helped Pepsi unlock this additional capacity 18 months earlier than originally projected. The long-term capacity upgrade is expected to be complete by June 2026, but with Flex Connect, the additional power has been available for PepsiCo since December 2024 -- 18 months ahead of schedule.
By energizing 20 trucks ahead of schedule, PepsiCo estimates a reduction of approximately 8,000 tons of CO2 emissions and savings of around $1 million in fuel costs. These estimates are based on regional emissions and cost profiles from Tesla's Semi Truck Analysis Tool.
PepsiCo has additional EV fleet sites in the queue for Flex Connect as it continues to advance its broader sustainability goals.
PG&E supports its commercial customers, like PepsiCo, to go electric through the EV Fleet program, which helps fleet operators easily and cost-effectively install charging infrastructure to save money, eliminate tailpipe emissions and simplify maintenance. EV Fleet is a comprehensive program that encompasses incentives and rebates, site design and permitting, and construction and activation.
PG&E also recently launched its new EV Fleet Advisory Services program providing personalized assistance for medium and heavy-duty fleets to switch to electric vehicles. PG&E fleet advisors provide one-on-one support for business customers at any phase of their electrification journey from planning to development and execution through post-energization. Customers can apply for the program through December 2026.
Plans for 2025 and Beyond
PG&E is also supporting the West Coast expansion of New York-based Revel, an electric mobility and infrastructure company, by recently connecting and powering new Revel EV chargers in San Francsico, Oakland -- and one through Flex Connect in South San Francisco.
In addition to more quickly energizing EV charging sites, PG&E is also using DERMS for other projects, like flexible generation interconnection and capacity deferral opportunities. These projects help avoid costly upgrades and make the grid more efficient.
In late 2024 PG&E deployed its first DERMS-connected lithium-ion battery energy storage system at a substation near Yuba City, Calif. PG&E plans to operationalize its second DERMS-dispatchable battery energy storage system by mid-2025 in an area of Kern County with an overproduction of solar generation. Deploying the DERMS-controlled battery will allow excess solar generation to be stored and used instead of being curtailed, and it will defer the need for costlier substation upgrades, extending the life of existing equipment and infrastructure.
PG&E plans to expand DERMS to include more load management programs, like Demand Response and Vehicle-Grid-Integration programs, as part of its long-term strategy.
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 and pge.com/news
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