Massachusetts program pays EV owners to put power back into the grid

A new Massachusetts pilot program will pay 60 homeowners to put power from their electric car batteries back into the grid, testing the 'vehicle-to-grid' technology already available in other countries.

As Katie Brigham explains in Heatmap, "Depending on their vehicle, eligible customers will enroll in the program through either Sunrun or The Mobility House, which will then connect them to their utility’s existing demand flexibility program, ConnectedSolutions." This is the first time EVs will be part of the program. A typical home battery stores 10 to 15 kilowatt-hours, while an EV battery can store 70 to 100 kilowatt-hours, making them a potentially powerful backup for conventional power sources. 

For now, the program is limited to a small number of vehicle types. "Yet even at this early stage, with limited scale and narrow eligibility requirements, Massachusetts’ early adopters are already demonstrating the technology’s value," and participating batteries have already contributed to the grid since the program launched last month.