Pescadero Community Microgrid Secures Final Funding for California Resilience Project
WestLight Energy says the Pescadero community microgrid has secured its final funding commitment, including a $3.5 million PG&E Microgrid Incentive Program grant. The planned project is designed to keep much of the rural San Mateo County community energized during wider grid outages.
Published · 4 min read
WestLight Energy announced August 27 that the Pescadero community microgrid in rural San Mateo County, California, has secured its final funding commitment, moving forward a planned multi-customer microgrid intended to keep much of the outage-prone community energized when the wider electric grid fails. The milestone matters because the project is being designed around resilience for nearly an entire town rather than only a single critical facility.
The latest funding includes a $3.5 million grant through PG&E’s Microgrid Incentive Program, while PG&E will provide up to another $4 million for interconnection studies, microgrid studies and grid upgrades required for safe islanding. Those commitments join $10 million from WestLight Energy and $3 million from San Mateo County.
The project targets chronic outages in Pescadero
Pescadero is a rural farming community of roughly 700 people on the southern San Mateo County coast. WestLight Energy said in its August 27 project announcement that recurring outages have disrupted homes, businesses, schools and community services.
The outage problem predates the latest funding milestone. In December 2025, San Mateo County reported that Pescadero had experienced more than 400 power failures over two years. County officials said 25 outages between 2021 and 2022 lasted longer than a day.
That history makes the project primarily a resilience investment rather than simply a local renewable-energy installation.
The microgrid will be able to separate from the wider grid
A defining feature of the planned Pescadero community microgrid will be its ability to island from PG&E’s distribution system during a wider outage and continue supplying participating customers from local energy resources.
PG&E defines a community microgrid as a group of customers and distributed energy resources within defined electrical boundaries that can disconnect from and reconnect to the larger grid. The utility’s community microgrid program guidance says local generation can include resources such as solar photovoltaic systems and battery storage while PG&E continues to own and operate the underlying distribution network.
The final configuration and capacities of the Pescadero project’s generation and storage resources were not disclosed in WestLight Energy’s August 27 announcement. Earlier county planning described the development as a solar-and-battery community microgrid.
For readers looking at how those resources operate as one system, Microgrid Media’s guide to how microgrid controllers coordinate generation, storage, loads and islanding explains the control functions required when a microgrid separates from and later reconnects to the utility grid.
PG&E’s incentive program is supporting community-scale resilience
The funding comes through PG&E’s Microgrid Incentive Program, part of a California Public Utilities Commission-authorized statewide initiative supporting clean-energy microgrids in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.
PG&E said when it expanded the program in 2025 that the statewide initiative provides $200 million in competitive grants, including $79.2 million allocated for projects in PG&E territory. The utility’s Microgrid Incentive Program update said eligible projects can combine technologies including solar, battery storage, small hydroelectric resources and other clean-energy systems.
The program is specifically structured around multi-customer projects rather than conventional behind-the-meter backup systems serving a single building.
A community choice aggregator is leading the development
The project also represents an unusual role for a community choice aggregator. WestLight Energy, formerly Peninsula Clean Energy, procures electricity for customers in San Mateo County and Los Banos while PG&E continues to provide electric distribution service.
WestLight is leading the project with support from San Mateo County, community organization Arriba South Coast and the Clean Coalition as a technical partner. PG&E’s own program rules allow communities served by a community choice aggregator to develop qualifying microgrids while remaining PG&E distribution customers.
That structure could make Pescadero relevant beyond San Mateo County if it demonstrates a repeatable way for community choice aggregators, utilities, local governments and community organizations to divide responsibilities for multi-customer resilience projects.
Construction remains several years away
The funding milestone does not mean construction is beginning immediately. WestLight Energy currently anticipates construction starting in mid-2029, with service beginning in mid-2031.
PG&E notes that community microgrids can require three to five years or more to develop because of engineering, interconnection, contractual and operating requirements.
The most important milestones between funding and operation will include completing the project’s technical design, interconnection work and utility upgrades required to island safely.
If the project reaches service on the announced schedule, Pescadero could provide a useful California test case for extending microgrid resilience beyond individual hospitals, emergency facilities or campuses and across a much broader community footprint.
Jonas Muthoni is Editor-in-Chief of Microgrid Media, where he oversees reporting and analysis on microgrids, energy storage, distributed energy resources, data center power demand, grid modernization, resilience, renewable energy, and electricity policy and markets. His work focuses on the infrastructure, technologies, and regulatory developments reshaping the power system.
As Editor-in-Chief, Jonas leads Microgrid Media’s editorial strategy and standards, including story selection, source verification, technical accuracy, and the development of original reporting and analysis. His coverage draws on regulatory filings, government records, utility and company disclosures, technical documentation, and independent industry sources to explain significant developments across the evolving energy system.
