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Rooftop solar, home batteries, heat pumps, and the rates and programs that decide what they are worth.
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PG&E launches Google-funded SHARE virtual power plant in the Bay Area
Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced SHARE (Smart Home Assets for Reliability and Efficiency) on September 3, 2026, a virtual power plant proof of concept it says will enroll nearly 21,000 existing home energy devices through Tesla, Sunrun, and Renew Home and deploy new Carrier battery-enabled heat pumps in Alameda and Santa Clara counties, with Google funding customer incentives, technology deployment, and program delivery. PG&E expects the resource to begin supporting the grid as early as fall 2026 and the program to run through 2027; no capacity or dollar figure was disclosed.
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New Jersey exempts balcony solar up to 1,200 W from utility sign-off
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed the Garden State Balcony Solar Act (S2368) on September 1, 2026, exempting plug-in solar devices of up to 1,200 watts from utility interconnection agreements and net-metering requirements, with new limits on landlord, homeowner-association, and municipal bans. The law takes effect six months after enactment, in early March 2027.
Duke Energy Florida turns a second grid battery into a community microgrid
Duke Energy Florida announced on August 31, 2026 that its 11 MW Trenton battery site in Gilchrist County was upgraded in the summer of 2026 to island from the grid and back up approximately 1,500 customers for up to four hours during outages. It is the second of the utility's six Florida battery sites with the capability, after Micanopy; in February 2025 Duke said its goal was for most of them to be able to island by 2026.
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Shell completes sale of home battery maker sonnen to family office Tiven
Shell has completed the sale of German home battery and virtual power plant company sonnen to Tiven, a family office headquartered in Malta, confirming the deal in statements to trade outlets between August 24 and 28, 2026; neither company initially made a public announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed.
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Jackery launches HomePower 1000 Plus V2 with up to 11 kWh expansion
Jackery announced the HomePower 1000 Plus V2 on August 27, 2026: an 1800 W portable power station with 1024 Wh of base capacity, expandable to up to 11 kWh with 2 kWh add-on batteries, at a $749 list price. The company claims an 80% AC recharge in 36 minutes and a switchover of 10 milliseconds or less for backup loads.
California Legislature passes SB 222 to standardize heat pump permits
The California Legislature passed SB 222, the Heat Pump Access Act, on August 25, 2026 (Assembly 60-8 on August 24, Senate concurrence 32-5). The bill requires cities and counties to issue real-time online permits for residential heat pump installations by July 1, 2028, caps permit fees, limits installations to one nondiscretionary permit, and voids HOA restrictions on replacing gas appliances with electric ones. Governor Newsom has until September 30 to act on it, according to Senator Scott Wiener's office.
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PSE&G pays $5,000 toward home batteries in new VPP pilot
PSE&G launched the GridSmart Battery Program, announced August 26, 2026: a $5,000 incentive toward a qualifying home battery plus up to $25,000 in interest-free on-bill repayment. Participating systems may be called on during scheduled GridSmart Battery Events under the utility's residential virtual power plant pilot in New Jersey; the release names no megawatt target or program size.
Sunrun will supply home battery capacity to Voltus's AI hyperscaler deals
Sunrun announced an agreement on August 17, 2026 to supply capacity from a portion of its residential solar-plus-storage systems in PJM and MISO to Voltus's Bring Your Own Capacity programs for AI hyperscalers. Voltus's first disclosed BYOC buyer was Google, under a June 2026 agreement covering up to 100 MW of distributed resources a year in PJM.
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Schneider Electric launches a home EV charger that manages panel load
Schneider Electric launched Schneider Charge on August 25, 2026: an 11.5 kW (48 A) Level 2 residential EV charger for the United States and Canada with built-in SmartAmp dynamic load management that adjusts charging speed to the home's real-time electrical load, supporting UL 3141 managed-load installations where accepted by the authority having jurisdiction. It ships in NACS (J3400) and J1772 versions; a plug-in model is planned for early 2027.
PG&E expands V2X program to Nissan, Volvo, Polestar, and Kia EVs
PG&E expanded its Vehicle-to-Everything program on August 24, 2026: the Nissan Leaf, Volvo EX90, and Polestar 3 with dcbel's Ara charger, and the Kia EV9 and EV6 with the Wallbox Quasar 2, are now eligible alongside new partners Bidirectional Energy and PowerFlex. Residential incentives run $2,500 to $4,500, PG&E says the new vehicle-and-charger combinations qualify for up to $13,000 in California Energy Commission grant funding subject to additional eligibility requirements, and enrollment stays open through June 30, 2027.
Ann Arbor's city utility installs solar and batteries at no upfront cost
The Ann Arbor Sustainable Energy Utility, a voter-created municipal utility that supplements rather than replaces DTE, is installing city-owned rooftop solar and battery systems on homes in the Bryant neighborhood at no upfront cost, with plans to reach about 100 homes before the pilot concludes in 2026 and to begin citywide expansion in 2027. Participants pay roughly $600 a year and the city estimates $700 to $1,000 in annual utility-bill savings; one enrolled household rode out a two-day heat-wave outage in July 2026 on its battery.
Massachusetts swaps surprise solar upgrade charges for a flat $225 fee
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved a Common System Modification Fee on August 12, 2026 in docket D.P.U. 26-57: every solar or battery project on the utilities' simplified interconnection path (listed inverter-based systems of 25 kW or less) pays a flat $225 at application, and the pooled fund covers grid upgrades up to $10,000 for Eversource and National Grid customers and up to $1,450 for Unitil customers. The tariffs take effect November 1, 2026, ending the practice of billing whichever customer happened to trigger a transformer upgrade.
New Jersey proposes 10-year payments for up to 150 MW of home batteries
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities released a straw proposal on August 19, 2026 for Phase 2, Block 1 of the Garden State Energy Storage Program: up to 150 MW of behind-the-meter home batteries earning performance-based payments of up to $200 per kilowatt-year over 10 years, administered by the state's four electric utilities, with enrollment targeted to open by July 2027.