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Pacific Gas and Electric Company recently joined elite fire professionals, top state and federal officials, and senior leaders representing philanthropy, insurance providers, and other electric utilities for the first-ever autonomous wildfire suppression demonstration in California. Organized by Rain and Sikorsky , a Lockheed Martin company, the demonstration took place in in the Silverwood region of the Mojave River Valley nestled next to the San Bernardino National Forest. The demo featured a Black Hawk® helicopter equipped with autonomy systems from Lockheed Martin and Rain tracking and engaging multiple fires across the site, pulling water from dip tanks and extinguishing ignitions – all controlled via tablet. PG&E leaders and a PG&E safety infrastructure protection team (SIPT) attended the demonstration. "At PG&E, we are committed to ending catastrophic wildfires, and we have implemented several layers of protection and mitigation initiatives that have significantly

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are key to achieving California's climate goals and can help lower electric rates for customers, but research shows that the cost of owning an EV can be a challenge for drivers in lower-income communities. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is taking action to make EV ownership more affordable for customers with limited financial resources. PG&E has already helped make driving an EV a reality for more than 13,000 income-qualified customers through the Pre-Owned EV Rebate Program , and thousands more have benefited from incentives to lower the upfront costs for charging infrastructure at their homes. Closing the equity gap to help get more drivers with limited resources into EVs is critical to accelerate EV adoption throughout PG&E's service area and reach PG&E's goal to serve 3 million EVs by 2030. EVs help improve air quality by decreasing carbon emissions from transportation. Additionally, PG&E estimates the next one million EVs

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