Some Massachusetts EV owners will soon be able to earn incentives for sending electricity from their car batteries back to the grid when demand spikes.
Utilities Eversource and National Grid are adding residential vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging to ConnectedSolutions, their existing virtual power plant programs in Massachusetts. Qualifying customers with V2G-capable EVs can earn incentives by sending stored electricity back to the grid during high-demand periods.
EnergyHub, Sunrun, and The Mobility House are providing the smart-charging and grid-integration tech for the test.
There’s a catch, though: The utilities haven’t yet said which EVs and bidirectional chargers will qualify, when enrollment will open, or how much participating drivers will be paid.
Update: A spokesperson provided the following statement with more details about the program:
The program has announced an initial list of eligible vehicles – including the Ford F-150 Lightning, Nissan LEAF, Kia EV9, Polestar 3, and Volvo EX90, and participants will earn performance-based incentives that vary by technology provider, battery capacity, and participation.
For National Grid customers participating through ConnectedSolutions, incentives are currently available at up to $275 per average kilowatt (kW) of performance over the summer season, which could translate to approximately $1,375–$2,750 for many residential participants, depending on charger capacity and performance.
Massachusetts EVs could help run the grid
ConnectedSolutions already pulls together smart thermostats, home batteries, and commercial and industrial equipment to ease pressure on the grid during peak-demand periods. (Disclosure: I participate in this program with my smart thermostat.) Now Eversource and National Grid want to find out how well EV batteries can do the same job.
And Massachusetts has a lot of battery capacity sitting in driveways. More than 150,000 EVs are already on the state’s roads, and the number of models capable of bidirectional charging is increasing.
When electricity demand spikes, enrolled EVs can send some of their stored energy back to the grid. That could help prevent system strain, reduce reliance on expensive peak power, and potentially lower costs for everyone, not just participating EV owners.
“We are excited to bring our dispatching expertise to Massachusetts and help expand our vehicle-to-grid technology to more customers,” said Chip Silverman, Sunrun’s director of grid services. “Vehicle batteries play a critical role in stabilizing the grid, providing backup power to homes, and lowering energy costs for everyone.”
National Grid is already putting V2G to work with light- and medium-duty fleets through ConnectedSolutions, starting with electric school buses. Eversource is also in talks with school districts about adding V2G through its ConnectedSolutions+ program.
The tech can do the job. The bigger question is whether utilities offer enough money and make enrollment easy enough to persuade Massachusetts EV drivers to hand over some of their battery power when the grid needs it most.
Read more: The US’s first residential V2G power plant is running on Ford F-150 Lightning trucks
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