Snapshot USA

Powering Schools and the Grid: Brooklyn's Electric Bus Microgrid

In late 2024, a groundbreaking pilot project in Brooklyn, New York, demonstrated how electric school buses can do more than just transport students: they can also help stabilise the power grid. Led by utility Con Edison and school bus operator First Student, the project transformed a school bus depot into a solar-powered, bidirectional energy hub, using a combination of solar PV, battery storage and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technology.

The smart depot, built on a formerly underutilised lot, features a 500 kW rooftop solar array and 2 MWh of stationary battery storage, and serves a fleet of electric school buses outfitted with solar panels on their roofs. Using bidirectional chargers and smart energy management software, the system enables the buses to both charge from and discharge electricity back to the grid, particularly during peak summer demand periods when buses are not in use.

School buses sit idle for most of the summer months, offering a huge untapped resource for grid services and renewable integration.

This pilot represents a novel model for integrating renewable electricity, transport electrification and grid resilience in dense urban settings. Unlike private vehicles, school buses operate on predictable schedules and remain parked during the summer, making them ideal assets for grid services such as peak shaving, demand response and backup power during outages.

The project also deployed First Charge, a cost-saving, trenchless charging infrastructure developed by First Student. This approach reduced installation costs by up to 30% while minimising disruption to city streets. The pilot is seen as a replicable model for cities aiming to scale distributed energy resources (DERs) through the electrification of municipal fleets.

The pilot also aligns with New York's updated charging infrastructure standards, which mandate that all new DC fast chargers support ISO 15118 3 hardware and ISO 15118 2 or 20 software, as well as OCPP 2.0.1 communication protocols. These standards are essential for ensuring secure, bidirectional communication between the grid and vehicles, enabling V2X functionality. However, interoperability challenges persist, particularly when retrofitting heavy-duty vehicles like school buses. Regulatory barriers also remain, such as the lack of clear compensation mechanisms for vehicle owners providing grid-stabilising services. These issues are now being addressed through the EV Infrastructure Interconnection Working Group, a statewide effort led by the New York Public Service Commission and utilities to streamline V2X deployment and standardise interconnection procedures.

As New York City moves toward its goal of electrifying all 10,000 of its school buses by 2035, the Brooklyn project provides a blueprint for how transport and energy systems can be co-designed to deliver mutual climate, cost and resilience benefits.

Snapshot USA from the following sources: Julian Spector, “New York City Tests a Solar-Powered Electric School Bus Microgrid,” Canary Media, 4 November 2024, https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/ev-charging/new-york-city-tests-a-solar-powered-electric-school-bus-microgrid; Charles Morris, “First Student and Con Edison Demonstrate Electric School Bus V2X Smart Energy Hub in Brooklyn,” Charged EV Fleet and Infrastructure News, 28 October 2024, https://chargedevs.com/newswire/first-student-and-con-edison-demonstrate-electric-school-bus-v2x-smart-energy-hub-in-brooklyn; Joann Muller, “1 big thing: How solar-powered school buses could help NYC's electric grid”, Axios, 22 October 2024, https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-generate-02280d10-8fb0-11ef-868b-c15b1888b630; Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. “Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Make-Ready Program – Amended Implementation Plan, Case 18-E-0138”, 7 March 2025, https://documents.dps.ny.gov/public/Common/ViewDoc.aspx?DocRefId=%7B902B7195-0000-C364-B83F-75B0F4E80432%7D.