Montgomery County is ramping up its efforts to transition their transit fleet from diesel to electric by installing new charging infrastructure.

This week the County signed a P3 with energy solutions firm AlphaStruxure to deploy an integrated microgrid and electric bus charging infrastructure project at the Brookville Bus Depot. The project is expected to help the County transition more than 40 transit buses to electric power, and is the next step toward the County’s goal to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2035.

“This advanced infrastructure project drives forward several of our priorities—converting our fleets to electric, reducing harmful emissions, and ensuring safety and security—in alignment with our ambitious climate goals,” said County Executive Elrich. “I’m pleased that this project will also improve the County’s resilience, so we can continue providing transportation services even in the event of prolonged power outages.”

“Electrifying our bus fleets is a necessary step in reducing carbon emissions, which is why the microgrid and electrification project brings us one step closer to meeting our ambitious climate goals,” County Council President Tom Hucker said. “This project can show a sustainable path for other counties and cities to follow Montgomery County’s lead in transitioning away from dirty energy and moving toward electrification.”

From the press release:

The Brookville Smart Energy Bus Depot is a first-of-its-kind integration of microgrid and EV charging infrastructure, delivering sustainability, reliability and resilience for the County’s public transportation system. AlphaStruxure, a joint venture of Schneider Electric and the Carlyle Global Infrastructure Opportunity Fund, will design, build, finance, own and operate the project to enable Ride On’s growing electric bus fleet.

Project construction is expected to create an additional 50 construction jobs and be completed by spring of 2022.

For more information, view the press release.