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    Enel X enters U.S. public transit electrification market with grants to support future electrification of bus fleets

    Sept. 21, 2020
    The grants will help electrify public bus fleets for the MBTA and Hopkinton Public School District in Massachusetts.
    Related To: Enel X

    Enel X has been awarded two grants by the Accelerating Clean Transportation Now (ACTNow) program through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).

    The grants will support the development of public transportation electrification in the commonwealth and coincide with the company's entrance into public transit electrification in the U.S. with the launch of a portfolio of turnkey services, including e-bus infrastructure planning, procurement, energy supply and management and software. With the grants, Enel X will help develop an innovative approach to public transit fleet electrification planning, which will provide the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) insights to optimally electrify a portion of its new fleet and will support the electrification of a portion of Hopkinton Public School District's bus fleet.

    "Enel X continues to be a leader in the electrification of transportation in the U.S., supporting utilities, businesses and consumers on their path towards zero-emissions driving through our unmatched combination of industry expertise, software and hardware. Today marks an important step forward in the expansion of our business to bring that same level of expertise and infrastructure to public mass transportation systems," said Surya Panditi, head of Enel X North America. "Massachusetts remains at the forefront of the energy transition, and we look forward to progressing each of these projects to deliver turn-key zero-emissions transportation solutions that meet sustainability goals and add economic value."

    Enel X will work with Microgrid Labs, Inc. (MGL), provider of EV modeling and optimization software, and the MBTA during the planning and development of a new bus depot located in Quincy, Mass., that will be capable of housing a fully electric fleet of 120 buses and charging infrastructure, as part of the MBTA's broader plans to design facilities to serve a zero-emissions e-bus fleet.

    Enel X and MGL will provide an electrification planning and analysis solution that will help inform the MBTA's electrification strategy and has the potential to be applied in other markets. The analysis will include insights regarding the optimal sizing of vehicle powertrain, battery, charging infrastructure, energy infrastructure including microgrids, as well as the development of an optimal charging strategy. In addition, Enel X, through its energy advisory services team, will develop an energy supply management strategy to maximize the financial benefits of the system, including evaluation of on-site distributed energy resources (DERs) like battery storage and the potential to earn revenue from enrolling the electric fleet and DERs in local managed charging and demand response programs.

    Today's news follows Enel X's recent announcement of a joint venture with AMP Capital for the development of electric public transportation infrastructure in the Americas. The joint venture was established to help accelerate Enel X's growth and leadership in the global electric public transportation sector.

    Additionally, Enel North America, through its renewables business Enel Green Power North America, has been awarded a grant, also under ACTNow program, of $37,000 to support the development of an emissions-based carpooling program for Enel's 650-plus Massachusetts employees across its Boston and Andover offices. Enel is collaborating with Liftango, an enterprise carpooling application developer, to improve the accuracy of the application's calculations for CO2 savings resulting from carpooling.