California’s primary electrical utility, PG&E, has seen its pipeline of proposed data centers more than double to 12.7GW at the end of Q2, up from 5.1GW in its Q1 results.

According to its Q2 results, the firm expects that 1.8GW of this load will reach operational status by 2030.

The biggest growth in the pipeline was from projects that have applied to be studied and paid the initial fee. The utility said it now has 26 projects in this bracket, with a combined capacity of 8.2GW, up from 1.7GW in Q1. However, only four projects with a combined capacity of 490MW have secured interconnection construction agreements, up from 140MW.

PG&E CEO Patricia Poppe accepted that not all of the projects are likely to see the light of day.

“We learn more every day about which of these projects are the highest quality. I think there are a couple of factors that will drive the quality. I do not think we can predict today which of them will flow all the way through. We know they will not all, but the number one criterion is that they must be rate-reducing,” she said.

The utility claimed that each additional gigawatt in its pipeline would reduce its customers' electricity bills by one percent or more, but results can "differ materially," depending on the pricing and rate design for large electricity users.

The company also said it had tightened the criteria for projects entering preliminary and final engineering, with final-stage projects now requiring a signed work performance agreement and a financial commitment typically equivalent to around 10 percent of total project cost.

The utility also claims that it remains focused on pricing data center loads attractively while ensuring they reduce rates for other customers.

The utility made several notable announcements within the data center space in 2025. Early last year, the company signed a first-of-its-kind Implementation Agreement with the City of San Jose to streamline and guarantee power delivery for data centers and other large load customers.

The utility has also recently partnered with smart transmission firm Smart Wires on a new project aiming to enhance grid reliability and support the growth of data center energy consumption in San Jose.