Electric School buses do double duty as power sources in innovative PSE partnership

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New EV fast chargers transform electric school buses into mobile power stations

Electric school bus charging port

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Electric school bus charging port

BELLEVUE, Wash, May 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Remember when school buses just took kids to and from school? Those days are changing, thanks to an exciting new collaboration between Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and local school districts, with grant funding from the Washington Department of Commerce. This partnership is giving these familiar yellow vehicles a surprising second job - helping power our communities.

PSE is working with the Snoqualmie Valley and Olympia School Districts to transform their electric school buses into mobile power stations - think energy power packs on wheels, but much, much bigger. The timing is perfect, because school buses typically run in the morning and afternoon, they're free to provide grid services during evening hours when energy demand peaks, and they're especially valuable during summer months when they would otherwise sit idle.

The project is partially funded by a $612,000 grant from the Washington Department of Commerce's Clean Energy Community Grants program. Funding under this program is aimed at projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the planning and implementation of clean energy technologies directly in the community. More importantly with this project, participating school districts save money on fuel and maintenance, while PSE gets additional power resources when they're needed most. Students benefit too, with cleaner, quieter rides that help enable the transition to greener and more sustainable school transportation.

"This grant helps PSE to deploy innovative grid solutions that help transform how we serve our customers and communities, said Aaron August, PSE's Chief Customer and Transformation Officer. "PSE appreciates the opportunity to partner with the State Department of Commerce and the Olympia and Snoqualmie Valley School Districts on this exciting project.”

Here's how it works: When the buses aren't busy taking students to and from school, they'll be plugged into innovative fast chargers, which transfer energy in both directions. During peak energy times, these buses can send power back to the grid, helping to keep the lights on across our communities. They can even serve as backup power sources during emergencies.

"This partnership allows us to transform our transportation fleet into a valuable community asset," said Frank Wilson, Executive Director of Operations for the Olympia School District. "Beyond providing cleaner, quieter transportation for our students, we're teaching them real-world lessons about sustainability and resource optimization."

"This is about more than just energy storage," said Ryan Stokes, Assistant Superintendent of Snoqualmie Valley School District. "We're showing our students that innovation and sustainability go hand in hand. These buses are rolling science lessons that demonstrate how we can all work together to create a cleaner, more resilient energy future."

To make this happen, PSE is installing Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) bidirectional DC Fast Chargers at the participating district bus depots, connecting them to its Virtual Power Plant system. Construction of the fast chargers at both locations is expected to happen this summer and will be operational in time for the start of the 2025-2026 school year. The system is operated using a specialized software platform provided by Nuvve, a company specializing in V2G technology.

"School buses are an ideal use case for V2G because they have large batteries, follow predictable schedules, and often remain parked during periods of peak grid demand,” said Hamza Lemsaddek, COO of Fermata Energy, a Nuvve company. "Our platform ensures each bus can reliably support the grid without compromising its core mission of transporting students safely and on time.”

This V2G project is supported with funding from Washington's Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington's climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov .

For more information about PSE's V2G technology demonstrations and partnership opportunities, visit pse.com/V2X.

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