February 23, 2015
Every dollar we save goes into students programs and staff benefits Superintendent California School
Electric vehicle charging station usage has soared over the past few years. In California alone there are more than 100,000 electric vehicles on the road today according to figures by HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates, a Michigan-based market research firm. The installation of electric vehicle charging stations at California schools is yielding multiple benefits, for schools, students, faculty and families in communities across the state. As electric vehicles become more commonplace, schools will need to provide more charging options for employees, students and guests. However, each time an EV is plugged in to a charging station, the electricity demand for a building spikes, which can leave schools with shockingly high demand charges at the end of the month. What are Demand charges? Demand charges (kW) are part of every commercial electricity bill and are determined by the highest 15 minutes of use during a billing cycle. Schools and administrative buildings, can pay 50 percent or more of their electric bills in demand charges. Even one sudden spike in energy usage can send a schools monthly electric bill skyrocketing.
What can be done to offset these high demand charges? Interestingly most consumers do not know what demand charges are nor do they know they can mitigate their demand charges with a simple solution. Schools from around the state of California are coupling their electric vehicle charging systems with energy storage. Energy storage allows schools and districts to control energy use and reduce demand charges. California schools including Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District (Santa Clara County), Oak Park Unified School District (Ventura County), Butte Community College (Butte County), Peralta Community College District (Alameda County) and California State University, Fullerton (Orange County) have all given energy storage a 100 percent acceptance rate. These schools combined installation will provide over 1,500 kWhs of intelligent energy storage capacity. This will be used to reduce the ongoing costs of demand charges on their electricity bills. Additionally each of these schools have coupled electric vehicle charging stations with energy storage to mitigate increased demand charges while promoting the use of electric vehicles with students, faculty, and staff.
Coupling intelligent energy storage with EV charging stations, schools in California and across the U.S. will not only reduce their monthly electricity bills and help enhance the resiliency of the power grid, but they will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help improve the environment, and save money in the process. With no upfront cost, the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District expects to reduce the demand charges on average of $43,000 per school year by installing an energy storage solution and EV charging stations at two high schools. Across these schools, the projected cumulative energy savings is more than $1 million dollars over the contract term.
“California is home to more than 100,000 electric vehicles drivers. As the EV market continues to expand, the work of schools to provide more charging options for employees, students and visitors is an important part of our community’s growth toward cleaner transportation solutions,” said Jason Anderson, president and CEO of Cleantech San Diego, a nonprofit trade organization that includes more than 100 local businesses, universities, governments, and nonprofits working to advance sustainable solutions. “Energy storage is a critical complement of EV charging as it allows schools and businesses to control their energy use and reduce demand charges.”
Energy storage is an ideal complement to EV charging infrastructure as it automatically manages and flattens electricity demand spikes from when an EV is plugged in as well as fluctuations in a building’s typical energy usage (weather, HVAC systems, etc.). Reduced greenhouse gas emissions and other types of environmental pollution is one big, long-term benefit. Affordable clean energy with zero fuel costs is another.
By installing energy storage solutions, these California schools are at the cutting edge of transforming the way the U.S. produces, distributes, stores and uses energy. Aiming for net-zero carbon emissions, schools in California are integrating intelligent energy storage solutions and electric vehicle charging stations while reducing their energy bill.
For more information please visit us at http://greencharge.net/solutions/schools-colleges/school-ev-charging-plus-energy-storage/
