The California Energy Commission approved a $2,932,412 grant Oct. 19 to the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator for a charging depot serving Los Angeles Unified School District electric school buses.
Under Agreement ZVI-26-005, the project will install 32 60-kilowatt direct-current fast-charging ports at LAUSD’s Newman Nutrition Center. Sixteen ports will have vehicle-to-grid capability, allowing the project to participate in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s Commercial Energy Storage to Grid pilot.
CEC documents say the depot is intended to support LAUSD’s accelerated deployment of zero-emission school buses and increase regional charging capacity ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The grant agreement runs through May 2, 2029, and is funded through California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
The agreement requires coordination with LADWP on utility service design, interconnection, metering and energy-management systems. Before the depot enters commercial operation, the project must complete testing demonstrating bidirectional energy transfer and integration with LADWP’s energy-management system. The project also must provide verification of utility energization and final approvals, construction closeout and commissioning documents.
Once the chargers are operational, the agreement calls for quarterly utilization reporting for at least three years and reliability reporting for six years. The CEC materials do not establish the project’s current construction status, utility-energization date or commercial-operation date.
