In Derwood, the state’s ‘most advanced’ clean energy project is coming online

Montgomery County’s bus network is expected to be all electric by 2035.

But won’t that strain the grid? What if the power goes out?

The buses will roll on, running off what is widely believed to be the largest microgrid of its kind in the country. Local and state officials will unveil it Thursday in Derwood.

With a microgrid, the county’s northern transit depot can function without electricity from the broader electrical grid, if needed, by relying on power from a series of solar panel coverings and battery storage equipment.

The facility will also eventually generate its own hydrogen to power a zero-emission bus fleet.

Eric Coffman, director of energy programs for the Maryland Energy Administration, said in an interview Wednesday it’s “by far the most advanced clean energy project in the state and likely one of the most advanced in the country.”

Coffman hopes other counties can replicate the project and, like Montgomery County, leverage private capital to cover it.

The upgraded transit depot is powering the county’s transition from diesel-powered Ride-On buses.

Within its fleet of about 400, the county has about 70 electric buses, said David Dise, director of the Department of General Services.

In the coming months, the county plans to begin replacing some diesel buses with hydrogen-electric vehicles, which run on hydrogen gas and boast a longer range than electric buses.

Dise said the county will receive its first two hydrogen-electric buses in about two months and then 11 more by the end of the year. But they won’t immediately welcome riders. The county will test the vehicles and prepare drivers and mechanics to work with them.

The transit depot in Derwood will initially fill the buses with hydrogen gas purchased from an outside vendor. But Dise said the county plans to eventually operate an electrolyzer to produce its own hydrogen from water.

“Our push towards achieving the county’s climate goals has been in advance of the available technology to do so, in many cases,” Dise said.

Paying for a microgrid

The microgrid project came together because of a public-private agreement between the county government and AlphaStruxure, which builds and operates large-scale energy infrastructure projects.

The Massachusetts-based company is backed by Carlyle, the D.C.-based global investment group co-founded by David Rubenstein, who also owns the Baltimore Orioles.

The county has contracted with AlphaStruxure before, including for a smaller-scale microgrid at a bus depot in Silver Spring that began operating in 2022.

Nicola Santamaria, senior vice president of construction and operation at AlphaStruxure, said Montgomery County has become a national leader in its push to electrify government vehicles.

And he said Maryland’s commitment to transform its fleet is “more aggressive” than any other state’s.

Under the agreement, AlphaStruxure will take on all building and maintenance costs associated with the facility over the next 25 years. The company’s building permit lists a construction cost of $48.6 million.

Dise said the county will reimburse AlphaStruxure by paying to use the facility as part of an “energy-as-a-service contract,” under which the county will pay a commodity rate of 13 cents per kilowatt hour.

The county currently pays Pepco 19 cents per kilowatt hour for other utility energy use.

The arrangement is expected to save the county money in the long run, too.

Dise said the county pays about 85 cents per mile to operate its diesel buses. Hydrogen-electric buses will cost about 31 cents per mile.