Door Opens For Californians To Tie Themselves Into The Grid More Than Ever Before

Google is opening the door for Californians to tie their homes into the electric grid more than ever before as power demand surges across the state.

The tech giant is paying to connect thousands of household batteries, thermostats and heat pumps across Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E), allowing the utility to draw power from participating homes when the grid is strained, according to Rewiring America.

The voluntary experiment, known as SHARE, comes at a pivotal time for California’s electric grid. The state is trying to find room for power-hungry data centers while simultaneously pushing more cars, appliances and buildings onto its electrical grid.

Anti-fossil fuel nonprofit Rewiring America is helping spearhead the program. The nonprofit was a key player in the Power Forward Communities coalition, which received $2 billion in electrification and decarbonization grants under the Biden administration’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin terminated $20 billion in GGRF grants on March 11, 2025, citing concerns about oversight, conflicts of interest and potential fraud. Power Forward Communities sued days later.

Obama-appointed Judge Tanya Chutkan partially ruled against the EPA that same month, and the case still is ongoing.

Rewiring America has folded Democratic heavyweight into its ranks, with two-time failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams joining the nonprofit as a senior counsel in 2023.

“Rewiring America will work directly with households to deploy and enroll energy-saving electric technologies into SHARE that can serve as flexible grid resources while improving the customer experience,” a press release announcing the program states. “They will also work closely with local installers to ensure projects meet high quality and performance standards.”

PG&E and Google stressed to Forbes that SHARE is not tied to any particular data center. But Rewiring America has pitched essentially the same idea as a way for technology companies to help create room on the grid for their growing data centers. Google is fully funding the program.