PepsiCo had a charging problem at its Fresno bottling facility. While it waited for utility upgrades, the site had access to three megawatts at night and none during the day. Its charging capacity supported roughly 30 electric trucks. The fleet numbered 50.
The answer was to change the terms of its electricity service.
Through PG&E’s Flex Connect program, the facility gained access to as much as 4.5 megawatts most of the time, subject to grid availability. In April 2025, PG&E reported that the arrangement had enabled charging for the full fleet and delivered the additional capacity in December 2024—18 months ahead of the scheduled permanent upgrade. That is a documented acceleration, rather than a claim that Fresno remains constrained today. PG&E’s account.
For a business waiting on electricity, that distinction matters. The first useful question is how much of the operation can start before the final utility build is finished.
A power delay forces the person responsible for opening a facility to reconcile two schedules: the business’s commitments and the infrastructure’s readiness. Signing a generator order can feel like taking control. It only helps if the entire power system can meet the deadline.
Find the capacity you can use now
“We cannot serve your full request yet” deserves a more detailed conversation with the utility.
Which piece of infrastructure is limiting service: the local feeder, a transformer, a substation, or the transmission network? How much capacity can the site receive before that work is complete? Is the restriction constant, seasonal, or concentrated in a few hours?
PG&E’s approach shows why those answers matter. Its pilot requires customers to be able to adjust consumption and connect their energy-management systems to the utility’s controls. The utility sends an hourly power-limit forecast a day ahead. Customers accept limits in exchange for earlier access to capacity. This is a specific utility offering with eligibility requirements; another territory may have different rules or no equivalent program. PG&E’s pilot overview.
A charging depot may be able to move charging into available hours. A factory might evaluate opening one production line before the second. A data center could examine a smaller first phase, including the cooling and other equipment that phase needs.
Those are operating decisions. Before accepting flexible service, identify what can slow down, what can stop, how much notice is needed, and what a restriction would cost. A process that cannot tolerate interruption needs a different design from a fleet that can rearrange charging.
The practical deliverable is a staged load plan: the minimum usable power required to open, the next increments, and the dates each becomes necessary. Give that plan to the utility and prospective power suppliers so they are solving the same problem.
When the gap remains, generate onsite
Oracle has taken this route with Bloom Energy. In an April 2026 announcement, Bloom said it had delivered a fully operational fuel-cell system to Oracle the previous year in 55 days, ahead of an anticipated 90-day schedule. Bloom’s announcement.
That is a supplier-reported deployment. The announcement does not disclose the capacity of that particular installation or establish how much site preparation and permitting preceded the 55-day period. It demonstrates a reported operating installation, not a universal schedule a new customer can put straight into a construction contract.
For another company, the options to investigate could include rented engine generators, a modular gas-engine plant, turbines or fuel cells. Choosing among them starts with the site’s load and operating requirements, available fuel, equipment availability and approvals.
Ask for a schedule that ends with usable power at the facility. It should account for fuel delivery, electrical equipment, installation, testing and permission to operate. A generator’s arrival date covers only part of that work.
For gas equipment, establish the required flow and pressure and obtain a credible fuel-delivery plan. For trucked fuel, establish consumption, storage and replenishment arrangements. The plant also needs a maintenance and failure plan: who keeps power flowing while a unit is being serviced or repaired?
Equipment ratings deserve equal scrutiny. Caterpillar distinguishes standby, prime and continuous applications and stresses matching the rating to the actual load and operating hours. A standby nameplate alone does not establish suitability for sustained operation. Caterpillar’s ratings guidance.
The equipment’s technical capability and its operating permissions must both fit the job. EPA’s engine guidance distinguishes emergency operation from other uses; project teams need to establish the requirements for their particular engines, site and intended duty. EPA’s overview.
Give the battery a specific job
Storage can help cover a short capacity restriction or shift electricity from hours when it is available to hours when it is needed. Its usefulness depends on both output and duration—and on having somewhere to obtain the charging energy.
Consider a simplified example: a 20-megawatt-hour battery supplying a five-megawatt shortfall holds four hours of energy before accounting for losses, operating reserves or other limits. That could be relevant to a short daily restriction. It cannot sustain that shortfall indefinitely without recharging.
Evaluate a battery against the actual restriction profile. Specify the required output, the longest period it must cover, and the capacity and time available to recharge. Combining storage with utility service or generation may improve the operating plan, but the energy balance still has to close.
Price the bridge that lasts longer
A published Aggreko case study describes an unnamed midstream company near Douglas, Wyoming, facing delayed utility service. Aggreko says it supplied a temporary gas-generation system that operated for 18 months; the customer extended the arrangement as permanent service continued to slip. The customer is not identified, and this is the supplier’s account. Aggreko’s case study.
It illustrates a risk worth pricing before signing: the bridge may outlast the original forecast.
Request six-, 12- and 24-month scenarios. Include equipment, fuel, maintenance, staffing, electrical works, approvals and eventual removal or conversion. Establish extension terms and who bears the consequences of a later utility date.
Then compare those costs with the business’s own alternatives: a smaller opening phase, postponed expansion, or another location with verified available capacity. Finance should estimate the consequences of delay from the company’s actual contracts and operating plan. A supplier cannot establish those numbers from a generic cost-of-downtime slide.
PepsiCo’s example shows the value of changing how a business takes power. Oracle’s shows a reported deployment of onsite generation. Neither removes the need to prove that a particular site can operate on a particular date.
For the team under pressure to open, the next move is concrete: put the utility, the facility’s electrical engineer and potential suppliers around one load plan and one deadline. Require each proposal to identify the capacity available at startup, every condition needed to deliver it, and the cost if the utility schedule slips again.
Before you promise an opening date, make the power plan prove it.
Reporting note: Based on public utility, company and regulatory materials; deployment claims are attributed to their publishers. Power Gap has not independently inspected these installations or conducted interviews for this article.