
Energy Future: Powering Tomorrow’s Cleaner World
How PG&E’s SHARE Virtual Power Plant Turns Homes Into Grid Support
In this episode, I break down Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) announcement of a new Virtual Power Plant (VPP) called SHARE (Smart Home Assets for Reliability and Efficiency). I examine why Google is funding the program and what this initiative reveals about grid-edge capacity arbitrage and AI data center growth. Here are the key points covered in today's analysis: The SHARE VPP Structure: PG&E is collaborating with Rewiring America, Carrier, Tesla, Sunrun, Renew Home, Demand Side Analytics, Encoord, and Google. Starting in fall 2026, the program plans to enroll approximately 21,000 flexible energy devices totaling about 12 MW to shift peak demand away from high-stress periods. Carrier Heat Pump Subsidies: Single-family home participants in Alameda and Santa Clara counties with central AC are eligible for Carrier battery-enabled heat pumps with a $5,000 discount, with the first 25 households receiving twice that incentive. Google's Funding & Capacity Arbitrage: Google is covering all program costs, customer incentives, and heat pump subsidies. This setup serves as a model for capacity arbitrage, where tech companies pay to free up capacity on the grid edge that can subsequently be claimed to connect additional data load sooner. The Economics of AI Data Centers: Compute leases for AI data centers operate in a unique economic tier—with Crusoe leasing compute at roughly $1.25 billion per month per gigawatt and BloombergNEF estimating revenue around $1.76 billion per month per gigawatt. This provides strong economic rationale to pay for grid-edge capacity to get online faster. Grid-Edge Arbitrage vs. Data Center Flexibility: While data centers are also testing operational flexibility to reduce load during peak hours, neither grid-edge demand response arbitrage nor data center operational flexibility has been fully proven at gigawatt scale yet. If you find this analysis helpful, please like, subscribe, and leave a comment with your thoughts on how VPPs and data center growth are intersecting in your region. Support the show ️ About Energy Future: Powering Tomorrow’s Cleaner World Hosted by Peter Kelly-Detwiler , Energy Future explores the trends, technologies, and policies driving the global clean-energy transition — from the U.S. grid and renewable markets to advanced nuclear, fusion, and EV innovation. Stay Connected Subscribe wherever you listen — including Spotify , Apple Podcasts , Amazon Music , and YouTube . Learn More Visit peterkellydetwiler.com for weekly market insights, in-depth articles, and energy analysis.

