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A handful of school buses in northern Illinois will soon have a new summer job.
ComEd is the latest utility to explore whether electric school buses could help manage the grid when school is out of session and air conditioners are humming.
Under such vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, arrangements, electric school buses charge up at night when power is cheap and plentiful, then discharge electricity to the grid when local power demand is high. This infusion can alleviate the need to fire up natural gas peaker plants, buy expensive power on the market, or even build new power plants.
The buses basically act as batteries attached to the grid, in a win-win situation where school districts are paid for the service and utilities get power that is cheaper and possibly cleaner than what they could otherwise acquire during peak hours.
V2G projects are still in nascent and pilot-project stages, and significant challenges exist. The grid needs to communicate seamlessly with the bus charging station, and operators must make sure bus batteries are ready when needed and that the grid isn’t overloaded by local bursts of energy. Standards and certifications for V2G technology and practice are also still in early stages.
“It takes a lot of effort to do those communications properly,” said Greggory Kresge, senior manager for utility engagement and transportation electrification at the World Resources Institute, a research and advocacy nonprofit focused on environmental and economic issues. “You have communication about speed, power level, how many kilowatts, how fast, what’s the duration — all these different packets of information going back and forth. It’s a fragile ecosystem. If one of those communication links breaks, it doesn’t function.”
ComEd has proposed a pilot project launching this spring and running through 2025 in partnership with the San Diego-based company Nuvve, which also has led V2G pilots in California, Delaware, and New York as well as in Europe and Asia. While the ComEd pilot will only involve four electric school buses in three different northern Illinois school districts, it could pave the way for widespread V2G in an area with hot summers, air pollution problems, and lots of students.
“The main idea is to look at this from a technology-demonstration standpoint,” said Sri Raghavan (Raghav) Kothandaraman, ComEd manager of emerging technology, smart grid, and innovation. “How does the charger work in connection with the bus? How does it work with the grid? How do we send commands to these chargers to be able to discharge during particular times? We’re trying to look at it from a win-win-win scenario for school districts and [electric bus] manufacturers as well as the utility.”
Kothandaraman said he could not say whether the buses are already owned by the districts or would be provided by ComEd. Nuvve CEO and cofounder Gregory Poilasne said the vehicles would be made by Blue Bird, one of the country’s leading electric-bus manufacturers.
Electric school buses cost about three times as much upfront as traditional diesel school buses, though the savings on fuel and maintenance can make the total cost of ownership lower over time.
School districts have had access to electric school bus funding from the Volkswagen emissions-cheating settlement and the Biden administration’s $5 billion Clean School Bus Program, but the federal initiative ends next year. Clean energy advocates say V2G programs could provide a new revenue source that makes electric school buses more financially viable for districts while slashing the air pollution and noise that students and drivers are exposed to with diesel buses.
A 2022 WRI report counted at least 15 utilities across 14 states with electric school bus V2G programs. Kresge noted that school districts can earn high payments for power from their buses during peak demand or “emergency load reduction program” times designated by utilities. In California pilot programs, utilities pay $2 per kilowatt-hour during emergency load reduction periods, whereas market prices in the state hover around 30 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Along with feeding the grid, electric school buses can act as behind-the-meter batteries that give schools emergency power during blackouts, Kresge said. In California, they can also power school buildings when utilities shut down transmission lines because of wildfire risk.
“We’re really looking at these buses as resiliency assets, for potential emergency backup power,” said Kresge. “You’re not powering an entire school but just the gymnasium or cafeteria,” which could serve as a community shelter during a disaster, he said. “If a tornado comes through, kids are not going to school, and the buses are available unless they got picked up and moved by the tornado.”
ComEd’s pilot is part of its Beneficial Electrification program, wherein state regulators required the utility to invest in vehicle electrification, including spending $5 million a year for three years on pilots to explore the most efficient and equitable ways to do so.
Kothandaraman said the participating school districts will likely be announced in the coming weeks after contracts are finalized. ComEd’s service territory includes Chicago as well as surrounding suburbs and several other cities. Last year, Chicago announced federal funding for up to 50 electric school buses for the district.
Poilasne noted that grid battery storage and innovations like V2G are increasingly necessary in part because of the extra demand that more and more electric vehicles will put on grids.
“We’re in an environment where for the first time in 25 years, the load on the grid is increasing, driven by heat pumps, data centers, [and] EVs,” Poilasne said. “It’s not just load increasing; it’s the volatility of these loads. The generation is volatile; the load is volatile. You need to design a system for peaks” that last a short time but can skyrocket electricity costs.
“The utilities love to upgrade infrastructure. That’s how they’re making money, but in this environment, they can’t just upgrade the system because the cost would be prohibitive,” Poilasne added. “It’s all about keeping the cost of energy equitable in this fast-changing environment.”
A school district participating in V2G has to install bidirectional charging stations, which are significantly more expensive than traditional ones. However, utilities may be willing to subsidize this infrastructure. Utilities additionally need to be able to handle two-way flow of power on their grids. This also happens when rooftop or other distributed solar panels send power to the grid, so utilities in solar-heavy states are especially prepared for this dynamic.
A third-party company like Nuvve typically provides the software and manages the charging stations for a school district, whether it is doing V2G or not.
“Vehicle readiness is the number one priority,” said Poilasne. “There’s a lot of work on forecasting when the EV will be there, when it will come back, what’s the level of charge when it comes back.”
WRI hosts a utility working group on V2G programs and advises that utilities structure rates specifically to make such initiatives more attractive for school districts. WRI also recommends school bus V2G programs prioritize communities with disadvantaged populations facing disproportionate air pollution, since electric buses can directly improve the air students breathe each day.
Even though school bus V2G programs are still small, Kresge thinks they will become commonplace and financially beneficial in coming years.
“We’ve been recommending if you have the opportunity to buy bidirectional-capable bus chargers, even if you’re not moving forward with V2G right at this moment, you should go ahead and get it,” Kresge said. “We’re anticipating that we’re going to see huge advancements and a lot more opportunity within the next four to five years on the technology side that will make [V2G] more scalable, more deployable. These programs are coming, so don’t hold back.”
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