Integrated Planning

Case Study: PG&E Transforms Grid Investment Planning with IFS Copperleaf

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), serving 16 million people across Northern California, is one
of the largest combined electric and gas utilities in the United States. Operating 125,000 miles of electric circuits and 50,000 miles of natural gas pipelines, the company faces multi-dimensional challenges from updating infrastructure, electrification-driven growth and affordability pressures, to safety management and increasing climate volatility.

Historically, PG&E’s planning was programmatic: reliability programs, capacity programs, and wildfire hardening programs competed annually for the same funding. This siloed process meant customers could experience multiple outages from overlapping projects, while regulators lacked visibility into how trade-offs were made.

Implementation and Early Benefits

PG&E piloted its new circuit-based, bundled planning approach with a $100 million portfolio in 2024. At that stage, bundles were created manually, so-called “mega bundles”, to validate the concept before scaling with IFS Copperleaf automation. The pilot produced striking results.

  •  Fewer outages: Coordinating projects by circuit rather than program cut planned outages by 50%. Customers experienced one consolidated outage rather than multiple disruptions
  • Cost savings: Bundling also streamlined field execution, saving $18 million, around 20%, on equivalent units of work. Those funds could be redirected to other pressing system needs
  • Collaboration gains: Instead of internal competition between programs competing for funds, IFS Copperleaf enabled outcome-based trade-offs. As Senior Manager Jocelyn Wong noted, “One investment that would have been treated as ten separate projects was now addressed as a single bundle, minimizing impact and optimizing resources.”
  • Quantified value: With risks normalized in SNAP and optimized in IFS Copperleaf, PG&E showed that a $15 million bundle could deliver $30 million in mitigated risk value

The implications at scale are enormous in a company the size of PG&E. With $10–20 billion invested annually, PG&E has identified the opportunity to realize up to $3.7 billion in efficiencies over a six-year period.

As Wen Tu, Senior Director of Integrated Grid Planning, put it: “We’re moving away from subjective debates to objective, risk-based decisions that maximize efficiency and minimize customer impact. This is future-proofing how we plan our grid.”

Why Copperleaf?

PG&E invests $10-20 billion in its system each year. By shifting to bundled, optimized planning with IFS Copperleaf, we’ve identified the opportunity to realize up to $3.7 billion in potential efficiencies over six years. We can reinvest these savings to deliver even more value for customers.

Wen Tu, Senior Director of Integrated Grid Planning, PG&E

Read the full case study to learn more about PG&E’s journey and the benefits they gained from implementing Integrated Planning.