PG&E

New York – September 23, 2026 -- XPRIZE awarded $4.55 million to innovators across two tracks of its $11 million XPRIZE Wildfire competition, recognizing breakthroughs in space-based detection and autonomous suppression technologies during a ceremony at the New York City Fire Museum.

Space-based detection track distributes $1.05 million across five teams

SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance took first place with $500,000 for integrating SAR and optical satellite data to characterize fires and model spread. Team Snuffed earned $250,000 for a probabilistic data-fusion framework built for firefighter usability. MyRadar, DeepFire and Mayday.AI each received $100,000 special recognition awards for commercial viability, operational fire-spread alerts, and repurposed volcanic-ash detection algorithms applied to smoke plumes, respectively.

Sacramento, Calif. – September 12, 2026 -- Consumer Watchdog has released a video accusing Pacific Gas & Electric of withholding $2 billion in already-funded infrastructure spending to pressure California lawmakers into approving liability relief legislation in a special session.

PG&E withholds $2 billion in ratepayer-funded upgrades pending bailout approval

The advocacy group alleges PG&E is halting infrastructure work that customers have already paid for through approved rate hikes, after the state legislature declined to grant the utility liability protections during its regular session. Former California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) President Loretta Lynch calls the move "bailout blackmail" in the video, arguing PG&E CEO Patti Poppe misrepresented the company's financial position.

Oakland – September 07, 2026 -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has launched SHARE (Smart Home Assets for Reliability and Efficiency), a Virtual Power Plant designed to enroll nearly 21,000 existing home energy devices and deliver hundreds of deeply discounted home energy upgrades across Bay Area communities.

PG&E assembles a multi-partner coalition to deploy the VPP

The initiative brings together PG&E, Rewiring America, Google, Carrier Global Corporation, Tesla, Sunrun, Renew Home, Demand Side Analytics and encoord to coordinate a network of home batteries, smart devices and battery-enabled heat pumps that reduce energy use during peak demand periods.

PG&E is working with Tesla, Sunrun and Renew Home to enroll nearly 21,000 existing flexible energy devices into the program, with the resource expected to begin supporting the grid as early as fall 2026.