Partner: WSP
Group Members: Nicholas Garza, Willow Urquidi, Paul Yeric
Electric vehicles (EV’s) will be the future of the transportation sector. With renewable energy generation increasingly bringing electricity onto the grid, EV’s can be a solution in mitigating transportation-related emissions. WSP, an engineering firm with experience in fleet electrification, seeks to understand how EV’s can play a role in managing electricity demand on the grid. With their battery storage capacities, EV’s have the potential to serve as distributed energy resources (DER’s) for a variety of communities. This Capstone project will serve as a tool for WSP to increase their knowledge in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and distributed energy resource technology. More broadly, the MENV team's collaboration with WSP will align with their company values of adaptability and innovation and increase the student’s knowledge in the consulting and distributed energy space. The team's methods for this project will be conducting robust research and analysis work and engaging with both public and private industry professionals to identify best practices for V2G and DER projects. The deliverables for this project will include a comprehensive White Paper that summarizes current trends, a software tool that assesses project feasibility, and a podcast series that summarizes their research and includes live interviews. Combined, these deliverables will aid WSP in branding themselves as a company ready to take on projects in this new and exciting field.