BIDIRECTIONAL Act

This bill requires the Secretary of Energy to establish a program that provides grants to eligible entities for projects deploying at least one electric school bus with bidirectional energy flow capabilities for vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-building, or other resilience applications. It also amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require each state to consider measures promoting vehicle-to-grid integration, including rates, tariffs, and standards for interconnection and compensation for electricity exported from vehicle batteries.

Sec. 2, Program to encourage deployment of electric school buses and vehicle-to-everything technologies and applications: The Secretary must establish a program within one year to award grants for projects using at least one electric school bus with bidirectional energy flow for applications like vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-building, or other resilience uses. Priority is given to projects likely to be economically self-sustaining and replicable. Eligible entities include electric utilities, school districts, manufacturers, and others. Grants can fund bidirectional charging stations, retrofits, metering, technical assistance, and related costs. Recipients must provide a non-Federal match at least equal to the grant amount, use at least 1% of funds for community outreach, and annually submit operational and economic data. The bill authorizes $500 million for fiscal years 2024 through 2028.

Sec. 3, Consideration of measures to promote vehicle-to-grid integration: This section amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to add a new federal standard requiring each state to consider measures that promote vehicle-to-grid integration, including rates and standards for interconnection, compensation for exported electricity, and aggregation for demand response. States must begin consideration within one year and complete it within two years of enactment. Prior state actions on comparable standards can exempt utilities from these requirements.