Mobility House, Schneider Electric team delivers Solar-Storage-Genset Microgrid for Bus Charging in Maryland

Nov. 2, 2022
The project, completed together with the help of partners Schneider Electric and AlphaStruxure, features 1.6 MW of solar PV, three 633-kW natural gas generators and 3 MW of battery storage

The Mobility House has completed the commissioning of an integrated 6.5-MW microgrid and electric bus charging infrastructure at the Brookville Smart Energy Bus Depot in Montgomery County, Maryland.

The project, completed together with the help of partners Schneider Electric and AlphaStruxure, features 1.6 MW of solar PV, three 633-kW natural gas generators and 3 MW of battery storage. The microgrid also includes controls and electric bus chargers to recharge up to 70 electric buses, or nearly 50% of the Brookville bus fleet.

The Mobility House has deployed its smart charging and energy management system, called ChargePilot, that can coordinate with the microgrid’s 4.14 MW charging capacity to optimize the charging schedules of the buses based on their route blocks and energy demands to ensure vehicle readiness. The intelligent energy management system also ensures that EV charging responds to the microgrid controller’s load balancing and peak shaving commands.

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“The transportation infrastructure of tomorrow is up and running today in Montgomery County,” Juan Macias, CEO of AlphaStruxure, commented. “We are thrilled to partner with Montgomery County on this holistic solution that delivers improved, cleaner services to County constituents.”

The project sources energy from its onsite microgrid that gives the County freedom to “island” from the grid, thereby enabling continuous operation of the fleet even in the event of grid failures and also operating without the limitations of coordinating bus charging schedules around utility time-of-use rates.

“Montgomery County has been committed to sustainability leadership and improving resilience after experiencing extreme weather events and recent extended power outages. Brookville Smart Energy Depot aligns with the County’s priorities to reduce emissions from public transportation while strengthening the community and infrastructure assets,” said Michael Yambrach, Interim Chief, Office of Energy and Sustainability, Department of General Services for Montgomery County.