SHREVEPORT, LA (April 16, 2024) – Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) is helping Texas school districts accelerate plans to add electric buses and ensure a smooth and equitable transition as schools diversify their bus fleets.
Primarily, that collaboration involves getting power flowing to new charging equipment for electric buses. It also includes helping identify funding opportunities and offering insight about lessons learned from other deployments.
“SWEPCO played an integral part in connecting the power to the chargers that we received,” said Kilgore ISD Transportation Director Brady Wheeler. “We are very appreciative of SWEPCO because they helped us identify an area on school property near the transportation facility that has the required electrical power to meet the needs of the chargers, and they also installed poles and transformers to bring power directly to the charging stations.”
Queen City and Kilgore Independent School Districts each received four electric buses as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program. EPA’s Clean School Bus program provides $5 billion over five years (2022-2026) to replace older, diesel school buses with new, lower emission ones and to install the necessary charging infrastructure. Queen City received their buses last fall, and the school district is awaiting delivery of a fifth. Kilgore received their four buses this year.
For Queen City officials, they did the math, and the benefits were clear. The program allowed the district to pump the brakes on inefficient and costly buses they could retire from their fleet and introduce new, electric buses.
“Bringing in new buses that are potentially more fuel efficient and upgrade our fleet at a reduced cost was a good opportunity for us from an investment standpoint,” said Dusty Wiley, Queen City ISD School Board President and SWEPCO Customer Design Manager.
To support the Queen City ISD, a SWEPCO engineer met with the school to determine the location of the chargers and determine if additional infrastructure was needed to provide power to them. When it was determined an additional overhead line and transformer would be required, the engineer coordinated the service installation and worked with the school’s electrician to get everything up and running, he said.
Because the buses have a six-hour charging capacity, the Queen City district is limiting them to local use including morning and afternoon routes.
School board members, administrators and superintendents interested in electrifying their bus fleets are invited to learn more about the electric school conversions during an AEP Energy webinar at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 17. Click here to register.
Transitioning to a clean transportation future means cleaner air, less pollution, and healthier kids. The EPA states some of the benefits of the Clean School Bus program include:
- Cleaner air. Clean school buses eliminate or reduce school bus exhaust, which is linked to asthma.
- Reduced health risks, especially for children whose lungs are still developing.
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.
- Cost savings from reduced maintenance and fuel costs.
Queen City and Kilgore ISDs were among more than 300 school districts awarded grants in 2022. Queen City has applied to replace an additional five buses.
Learn More
Join AEP Energy for a panel discussion on the Do’s and Don’ts of Electric School Bus Conversion at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 17. Panelists have successfully navigated the path to sustainability and reliability for their community, while creating a green future for their district’s students. They include: Tim Farquer, superintendent/curriculum director, Williamsfield Schools in Illinois; Jason Sherman, director of facilities and transportation, Delaware City Schools in Ohio; Kenni Jean Shrader, transportation supervisor, Three Rivers Community Schools, in Michigan; Royce Duffy, director of transportation, Zenith Academy in Ohio.
About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)
We deliver safe, reliable and affordable power to more than half a million homes and businesses in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Our 1,400 employees power today’s necessities and inspire tomorrow’s possibilities. You’ll see us improving communities, promoting sustainability and building grid resiliency throughout our territory, spanning more than 25,000 distribution line miles. Our work in energy efficiency has been repeatedly recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy, which honored us as an ENERGY STAR® 2023 Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence. We recognize that innovative approaches to workforce development are necessary to effectively recruit qualified, diverse talent in today’s competitive labor market and this includes a commitment to building a diverse and skilled workforce through partnerships to grow the talent pipeline. We’re proud to be named Texas Workforce Commission’s 2023 Employer of Excellence and to receive the 2023 Curt Eysink Excellence in Workplace Development award from the Louisiana Community and Technical College System. Because we produce and deliver one of the most powerful forces on earth, we keep the safety and well-being of our customers and employees at the forefront, always. We are proud of the Million Work Hours Safety Award from the Arkansas Department of Labor Licensing and Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission on behalf of our Flint Creek Power Plant for working 4 million hours without a lost-time accident. We believe we can deliver reliable electricity while protecting the environment. Our work to support habitat conservation was recently recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council Conservation (WHC) who awarded us a Silver Certification for supporting sustainable ecosystems at our Eagle Watch Nature Trail. SWEPCO is an American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) company. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, LA. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at SWEPCO.com. Connect with us by following Facebook.com/SWEPCO, Twitter.com/SWEPCOnews, Instagram.com/swepco, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv and LinkedIn.com/company/swepco.
About American Electric Power (AEP)
At American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, we understand that our customers and communities depend on safe, reliable and affordable power. Our nearly 17,000 employees operate and maintain more than 40,000 miles of transmission lines, the nation's largest electric transmission system, and more than 225,000 miles of distribution lines to deliver power to 5.6 million customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation's largest electricity producers with nearly 29,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including approximately 6,100 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP is investing $43 billion over the next five years to make the electric grid cleaner and more reliable. We are on track to reach an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 and have a goal to achieve net zero by 2045. AEP is recognized consistently for its focus on sustainability, community engagement and inclusion. AEP's family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, which provides innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.