Electric vehicles aren’t just powering up the roads. They have the potential to improve the resiliency of the electric grid.

Specifically, EVs can serve as a vital battery storage resource in the proliferation of customer-centric power networks, otherwise known as virtual power plants (VPPs).

Recently, Maryland took steps to accelerate the growth of this promising resource in its bid to meet clean energy goals. The state legislature passed House Bill 1256 on April 4.

Named the Distributed Renewable Integration and Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE) Act, the law will require electric utilities to expedite connections for so-called “bidirectional EV charging,” in which EVs draw power from the grid to charge their batteries and send power back into the grid when needed.

The law also encourages the use of behind-the-meter or distributed renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind, and the aggregation of power from those sources, including EV batteries, into combined networks of power, or VPPs, that can be drawn on to support grid services. The law favors these networks by requiring utilities to pay customers for the power their EVs provide and to adopt time-of-use rates that encourage customers to consume power during off-peak times.

The law sets a schedule for utilities to submit vehicle-to-grid charging plans to the Maryland Public Service Commission by April 2025 and VPP plans by July 2025.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is expected to sign the bill.

The DRIVE Act aligns with the state’s ambitious climate action goals. In 2022, the state passed the Climate Solutions Now Act, which set a target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% from 2006 levels by 2031 and for achieving net-zero emissions by 2045.