The California firm Bidirectional Energy has begun recruiting owners of electric vehicles capable of bidirectional charging to participate in the company’s planned virtual power plants in California and Connecticut.
The firm’s California project, funded by a $2.2 million state grant, aims to install and operate bidirectional chargers manufactured by Wallbox at 120 residential locations across California.
The Connecticut project, also backed with state funding, aims to enroll 100 customers.
Only a limited number of electric vehicle (EV) models are capable of bidirectional charging, according to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, but the range of bidirectional vehicles “continues to grow as auto manufacturers announce new products.”
EV owners participating in the Bidirectional Energy pilot programs will receive a substantial discount on the cost of bidirectional EV chargers and installation.
“This means that for early adopters, the cost of a cutting-edge bidirectional charger is close to comparable to that of a standard one-way charger,” said Frances Bell, founder and CEO of Bidirectional Energy, thus removing “a major barrier to entry.”
The company says on its website that enrolled residential customers may earn up to $1,000 per year.
Grid benefits
Bidirectional EV charging can help balance renewable generation by charging EVs when prices are low, such as when renewable generation is high, and discharging at times of high electricity demand. They can serve the same purpose as distributed stationary batteries in this way.
Bidirectional charging could also improve distribution circuit utilization, thus reducing the need for distribution system upgrades and keeping customer costs down. A V2G pilot program in the service area of California utility PG&E aims to demonstrate that benefit.
In that pilot program, the cost for EV charging and the compensation for EV exports to the grid will change hourly at rates set one day in advance, based on California’s demand flexibility framework known as CalFUSE.
In a related effort, California plans to develop a flexible demand appliance standard for EV chargers.
Bidirectional Energy’s California pilot program is supported by a grant from a state program known as Responsive, Easy Charging Products with Dynamic Signals, or REDWDS for short.
Bidirectional Energy’s Connecticut pilot is funded by the state’s Innovative Energy Solutions program, whose major focus is demand response, a practice that reduces electricity consumption at times of peak demand.
Six other states
Massachusetts has a statewide vehicle-to-grid pilot program for both EVs and school buses, and plans to prepare a guidebook for scaling the pilot program.
The consultancy Wood Mackenzie has reported that vehicle-to-grid programs are also operating or planned in Texas, Illinois, New York, Vermont, and Maryland.
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