California School District Jumps Into Solar, Storage, & Electric Buses

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The quite rural Porterville Unified School District (PUSD) in California, which sits between Los Angeles and San Francisco, or Los Angeles and Sacramento, has decided to go all-in on cleantech. It is getting solar, battery energy storage, and also electric school buses.

The school district is working with ForeFront Power for the solar power, the battery storage, and the EV charging needs. It is also working with The Mobility House, which has been a leader on vehicle-to-grid management and EV charging management for more than a decade.

The project is being supported by a U.S. EPA Clean School Bus (CSB) Program grant, and PUSD got support from the nonprofit CALSTART in applying for that.

“The PUSD Zero-Emission Transportation Infrastructure Project and Microgrid will include a 763 kW solar array mounted on existing shade structures at the District’s north and south parking lots, along with a 408 kW / 1632 kWh battery storage system to store solar energy, provide resiliency, and discharge power to shave peak demand. A microgrid controller will enable the facility to disconnect from Southern California Edison’s electrical grid when needed, drawing power directly from the District’s on-site solar energy and battery storage assets,” a news release shares.

“The solar-plus-storage system will support 35 DC fast charger ports to serve the District’s planned fleet of electric school buses. These fast chargers will be connected to The Mobility House’s charge management system, ChargePilot®, which will enable the fleet to draw power directly from PUSD’s on-site energy systems in tandem with grid electricity. The EV charging infrastructure will also include eight charging ports in the north parking lot that will serve the District’s ‘white fleet.’ Two of the eight chargers will feature bi-directional charging capability, which enables an EV to function as a ‘battery on wheels,’ storing and discharging power back to the grid with vehicle-to-grid services (V2G). V2G technology will help the District support grid resilience, offset energy expenses, and extend an additional clean energy resource to students, staff, and the broader community.”

I’m a little surprised that they feel a need for fast chargers, let alone 35 of them, but I obviously don’t know the details of the districts needs and fleet. One would think that there’s plenty of time at night and in other low-electricity-demand times to charge — or even high-electricity-demand times — but I must be missing something on the fleet charging needs and the cost analysis. Or maybe it’s simply that the grant covers fast chargers, so why not install them?

“Both V2G and microgrid technologies are integral to Porterville’s resiliency strategy, which includes protecting the broader community in the event of emergencies and power outages, such as Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events.”

One of the great things about this massive project is finding out that it’s going to really make a big difference on the students. Unfortunately, they suffer much more from air pollution, and this will help to reduce that significantly. “Located in Tulare County in California’s Central Valley, the Porterville region experiences some of the nation’s worst air quality, which disproportionately affects student respiratory health. PUSD serves more than 14,000 TK–12 students across 22 campuses, 88.9% of whom are from socioeconomically disadvantaged households, making the District’s transportation fleet a critical lifeline for many students who rely on school buses for access to education and extracurricular activities. In response to these conditions and rising energy costs, the District launched its PUSD Energy & Sustainability Program in 2019, aiming to reduce energy costs and GHG emissions by 80% by 2030, and is pursuing this EV infrastructure project as a key pillar of the program.

“Once complete, the 1,171‑kW solar, battery storage, and microgrid system is expected to produce nearly 1,425,000 kWh of clean, renewable electricity annually. This onsite generation, combined with smart dispatch of the battery and V2G resources, is designed to offset approximately 80% of the District facilities’ electricity consumption—including the anticipated annual SCE utility bill for electric bus charging—and avoid an estimated 21,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions over the 30‑year project lifecycle. The District’s plan to transition all school buses to electric by 2035 will save an additional 15,000 metric tons in avoided CO₂ emissions from reduced tailpipe pollution, bringing their total expected CO₂ emissions reduction over the same 30-year period to approximately 37,000 metric tons. This is equivalent to the GHG emissions from over 3.6 million gallons of diesel fuel burned.”

It’s clearly a great, leading project — combining all of the solar, batteries, EV chargers, electric buses, and system management. It would be wonderful if we saw such project announcements ever week, but we don’t. Maybe soon….

“We applaud Porterville USD for pursuing this innovative project for zero-emission infrastructure,” said Dr. Ruben Fontes, CEO at ForeFront Power. “When complete, this clean energy portfolio will serve as a national model for how vulnerable communities can mitigate rising energy and fuel costs, improve public health, meet ambitious climate goals, and protect themselves from climate emergencies.”

“PUSD’s commitment to decarbonize their fleet is transformational for the San Joaquin Valley, for the broader Porterville community, and for school districts that are navigating similar transitions. Funding programs that reduce capital costs are critical to make these school electrification projects possible.” said Valerie Thorsen, P.E., Regional Director at CALSTART. “PUSD is not only transitioning their fleet, but they have also provided EV internships in partnership with Climate Action Pathways for Schools and are actively enabling clean energy jobs through their Academy of Energy and Resource Occupations (AERO) Pathways Program.”

Good stuff all around.