CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.—The results of a summer-long vehicle-to-everything (V2X) pilot project have recently been compiled. The first-ever customer-owned electric vehicle (EV) to support the New England electric grid has earned over $4,200 by participating in a utility demand response program.
In May of 2021, climate-tech start-up Electric Frog Company provided an all-electric Nissan LEAF to the Burrillville Wastewater Treatment Facility in Rhode Island to facilitate commercial V2X operations in support of the New England utility grid.
To allow charging of the EV for everyday use and discharge power on demand, Electric Frog partnered with V2X market leader Fermata Energy to install its FE-15 bidirectional charger and proprietary V2X software to manage the charging of the EV at the Burrillville facility and deliver power, on-call, to the building.
“The results achieved at the Burrillville Wastewater Treatment Facility should change how we think of electric vehicles,” said Fermata Energy founder and CEO David Slutzky. “Until now, people thought of an EV as a single-use asset for mobility only. As we just proved, an EV equipped with a bidirectional battery paired with V2X technology enables the EV owner to access a variety of value streams. We have shown that, not only can our technology save you money, but it will also drive the costs of EVs down with the value we can generate. We appreciate the opportunity to work with Electric Frog and National Grid in highlighting the real potential of electric vehicles.”
Making EVs More Affordable
“There is a new generation of drivers that want climate-safe transportation at the lowest price,” said Brent Alderfer, founder and CEO of Electric Frog Company. “Electric vehicle battery power supporting the grid for a few peak hours a year delivers affordable EVs and a cleaner electric grid.”
This multi-faceted project used a portion of the energy stored in the battery pack of the parked EV to help offset peak electrical loads at the treatment facility and on the grid itself as part of National Grid’s ConnectedSolutions demand response (DR) program.
When the EV is plugged into the FE-15 bidirectional charger, Fermata Energy’s V2X software manages charging and discharging of the EV battery in response to targeted peak loads so that power is delivered where it’s needed at precisely the right time and for the prescribed duration.
The electric vehicle and charger delivered power for 57 peak hours this summer when demand was at its highest,” said John Isberg, Vice President of Customer Sales and Solutions at National Grid. “These results help to give us confidence that electric vehicles can be a reliable partner in providing a clean and resilient electricity grid for the future.”
Fermata Energy Helped Offset 27 Peak Energy Events
National Grid’s ConnectedSolutions DR program incentivizes participation with a payment of $300/kW for up to 60 “peak energy” (periods of high energy demand) events between June to September. Fermata Energy helped offset 27 peak energy events over the summer in Burrillville, resulting in a $4,200 incentive check to Electric Frog.
Using the EV’s battery instead of conventional sources of generation, Fermata Energy helps reduce emissions, infrastructure costs and utility prices, and promotes grid stabilization and renewables integration.
In addition to participation in the ConnectedSolutions program, Fermata Energy’s proprietary demand charge management (DCM) software also lowered the building’s energy cost substantially resulting in bill savings for the Burrillville facility.
Demand charges are electricity costs above and beyond “baseline” energy consumption costs. Although demand charges vary by utility, they can contribute to a significant portion of total monthly electricity costs. In Burrillville, in July, Fermata Energy saved the facility an additional $222.05 in addition to the demand response revenue, bringing the total value earned over three months to $4,400.
