Choosing electric buses powered by a microgrid was an easy decision for the Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA), which expects significant fuel savings, resilience and cleaner air from the project in the Los Angeles , Calif. area.
“This is a no brainer,” said Macy Neshati, executive director and CEO of AVTA, which provides local, commuter and dial-a-ride service to more than 450,000 residents in the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale. Residents in unincorporated portions of northern Los Angeles County are also served.
AVTA now operates 44 transit buses that are electrified, and plans to electrify another 30 commuter buses and add a microgrid that will provide 100% of the charging for buses. The microgrid will be housed at AVTA’s bus maintenance depot, he said. The buses will be charged when needed while they’re at sites located along routes, away from the depot, and those sites will have solar and batteries.
When the microgrid is complete, charging prices will drop significantly, he said. AVTA now pays Southern California Edison (SCE) and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) 13 cents/kWh for charging. That includes the utilities’ agreeing to wave “demand charges and onerous fees,” he said.
Under a new contract with Duke Energy, the price for charging buses at five sites that are located outside the main bus depot will be 9.5 cents/kWh. But when buses are being charged directly by the microgrid at the bus maintenance depot, prices could be as low as 4.5 cents/kWh, Neshati said.
No wheeling charges with microgrid
The extra 5 cents/kWh for the offsite charging stations is due to wheeling charges from the utilities, a fee to cover costs of moving power from a generation facility to the distribution lines. He noted that the wheeling charges don’t apply when buses are charged directly by the microgrid.
AVTA will also meet California’s low-carbon fuel standards, providing additional savings. “For electricity use for charging electric vehicles (EV), you get low carbon fuel standard credits,” he said.
The state’s low carbon fuel standards are designed to cut the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. The state developed the standards — which consider greenhouse gas emissions from extraction to combustion — to meet California’s climate bill. AVTA owns its credits, which can be sold.
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