This is the first time an electric school bus has been leveraged as an energy resource by the regional utility National Grid in New England and among the first instances in the United States that an electric school bus has supported the electric grid in this way, said Highland in a press release.

The bus discharged three MWh of electricity to curb peak demand 30 times this summer, according to Highland, which provides the bus, chargers, and all electricity to Beverly Public Schools under a mileage-based subscription. The company worked with National Grid to ensure that the site was prepared for energy discharge and coordinated participation in the utility’s Connected Solutions Daily Dispatch program. Under this program, National Grid used the energy stored in the electric school bus battery on 30 different occasions over the summer to lower demand on the grid during times of peak demand.

Project partners include utility National Grid, and Thomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley electric school bus equipped with a Proterra Powered battery system. Proterra’s bidirectional charging system managed the charging and discharging of the electric school bus back into the grid.

“By delivering stored clean energy back to the grid when it’s needed most, electric school buses can help create a more resilient local power system and reduce the dependence on expensive fossil fuel power plants,” said Gareth Joyce, President of Proterra. “Switching to zero-emission, electric school buses signals a transformational shift towards clean transportation and clean energy to help protect the health of our children and the communities they live in.”

By participating in the program, the school bus helped reduce local emissions and decreased the need to fire up fossil fuel peaker plants. National Grid compensates participants in this program for their energy services, incentivizing the use of distributed energy resources to strengthen the local grid.