PG&E says it is rebuilding ICA platform and running legacy map in parallel while testing; staff pressed on update cadence and rule 21 use

Pacific Gas & Electric presented progress on a replacement ICA platform meant to address scale limits and to integrate forecasted load and planning-model changes. Gabriel and other PG&E presenters said the vendor-built platform will align ICA with distribution planning models and enable future features such as limited generation profiles and dynamic reconfiguration.

PG&E explained the migration effort is complex because the new platform requires reworking many API links that feed device settings, smart-meter profiles, queue project data and planning models. PG&E said it is maintaining monthly publication on the legacy map while the teams run acceptance testing and incrementally deliver features. Gabriel summarized the risk: "If any API is misaligned and it sends data in the wrong format, then our ICA relations would suffer," and cautioned that data-pipeline synchronization must be rebuilt for the new platform.

PG&E said it has taken steps to increase computing capacity and staff, and to build more robust automation and error detection, but stakeholders pressed the company for specifics about whether it meets the Commission’s requirement to update triggered circuits on a monthly cadence. PG&E representatives said they publish on a monthly cadence and route newly triggered circuits into a priority queue for processing; they also said some feeders are computationally expensive to run (examples cited of feeders that can take many hours or days) and certain cases require manual engineering troubleshooting. PG&E acknowledged a backlog and said improving lead time is a priority.

PG&E's presenters noted common causes of ICA errors and missing hours: stale or missing equipment settings, queue-project synchronization gaps between customer portals and GIS/planning databases, AMI interruptions that create zero hours, leftover segments from reconfiguration, and long-run circuits with slow simulations. The company said many such issues can be detected automatically and fixed by assigned defaults or by automated cleans, while others require engineering intervention.

Portal and outreach work: PG&E said it has launched a Grid Resource Integration Portal (GRIP) and will retire the legacy map. PG&E maintains a public inbox and has processed hundreds of requests since 2018 to correct portal issues, grant access and respond to data requests; it said most inquiries were access requests or out-of-scope questions, and that engineering or IT teams resolve reported data-quality problems.

Stakeholder questions asked if ICA results match engineering reviews from Rule 21 interconnection screening. PG&E said its review found the ICA outputs were accurate for the cases examined and that engineering reviews can sometimes show mitigation solutions not reflected in a simultaneous ICA (for example, a fuse upgrade that an engineer approves as a minimal connection fix). PG&E said the new platform will improve alignment and allow additional features like downloadable limited generation profiles.

Ending: PG&E told the CPUC the vendor-built platform will be rolled out gradually (an initial minimum-viable product at the end of the quarter, fuller functionality in mid-year) while safety and accuracy checks continue on the legacy map; stakeholders said they expect clearer reporting about the percentage of circuits affected and about whether triggered circuits are updated during interconnection review.