Dive Brief:
Massachusetts has begun deploying bidirectional electric vehicle chargers at no cost to select customers, as part of a two-year “vehicle-to-everything” demonstration to explore the potential for residential, municipal and school customers to use EV batteries for backup power, self-consumption and demand response.
Elijah Sinclair, senior program manager for clean transportation with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a state economic development agency, told Utility Dive that the program should have 70 to 80 of the chargers installed by the end of summer. Four municipal entities, five school districts and more than 45 Massachusetts residents are participating, MassCEC says.
Sinclair said early results from Massachusetts school districts, in particular, show promise for electric buses to support the state’s power grid while generating revenue for their owners. The pilot program will help MassCEC, utilities and other stakeholders understand how both buses and other vehicle types interact with the grid as EV adoption increases in Massachusetts, he said.
Dive Insight:
