AlphaStruxure uses Ampcontrol for Largest Transit Depot Microgrid

THE CHALLENGE

Charging a growing bus fleet inside a self-sustaining microgrid

Montgomery County set out to transform EMTOC into a self-sustaining depot powered by renewable energy, serving a growing mixed fleet of battery-electric and fuel-cell electric buses expected to exceed 200 vehicles by 2035. The County’s broader target is a 100% reduction in emissions by 2035. But bringing high-power charging online inside a self-contained microgrid created two core challenges:

• High, variable charging demand vs. on-site energy. Charging many buses at once — including high-power pantograph fast chargers rated up to 360 kW — creates large, fast-moving power spikes. That load has to be met from a continually shifting mix of solar, battery storage, and grid power, without overloading the site.
• Operational simplicity at scale. A depot serving a fleet of this size needs charging that works without manual setup for drivers and operators, plus clear, real-time visibility for the energy manager and site manager overseeing a complex, multi-asset facility.

THE SOLUTION

Flexible charge management, fully integrated with the microgrid

AlphaStruxure brought Ampcontrol onto the project and selected the platform for one decisive reason: its flexibility to integrate with the energy assets and controllers AlphaStruxure had already chosen for the site. Rather than dictating hardware, Ampcontrol’s vendor-agnostic approach fit the devices in place — and the collaboration began more than six months ahead of go-live.

• Ampcontrol AmpEdge — orchestration across solar, battery, and grid. AmpEdge runs on-site to orchestrate EV charging in real time against available solar generation, battery storage, and grid capacity, while Ampcontrol Cloud provides remote management and oversight. Crucially, AmpEdge integrates with AlphaStruxure’s other energy controllers and assets — the flexible, vendor-agnostic integration that was central to its selection.
• Plug & Charge — automatic vehicle recognition. Buses are recognized and authorized the moment they plug in, with no manual session setup. Across a large fleet, this removes operator workload and keeps charging seamless.
• Visualization for energy and site managers. Ampcontrol gives the energy manager and site manager a single, real-time view of charging activity and connected energy assets — turning a complex, multi-asset site into something operators can monitor and manage at a glance.

The result is true energy orchestration: charging demand is balanced dynamically against everything else happening on the microgrid, so buses get the energy they need while the site stays within its limits — and keeps running through grid disruptions.

THE RESULT

Live at the nation’s largest transit depot microgrid

• Charging operational at a landmark site. Ampcontrol’s charge management is live at EMTOC, enabling the depot to charge its growing zero-emission fleet from an integrated mix of 4.8 MW of solar, 2 MW / 6.9 MWh of battery storage, and the grid — with roughly 2.4 MW of charging capacity across 17 charging units and 42 dispensers, including five 360 kW pantographs.
• Resilience without compromise. Because charging is orchestrated with the microgrid, the depot can keep buses moving even when the utility grid goes down — a critical capability for transit infrastructure the County’s 1.1 million residents depend on.
• A replicable blueprint. EMTOC demonstrates that a vendor-agnostic charge management layer can plug into a complex microgrid — a model AlphaStruxure can extend across the thousands of transit depots still to be electrified across the country.

"AlphaStruxure has built something genuinely landmark at EMTOC, and it's been a privilege to support their vision. They brought us in because the project needed charging that could flex around everything else on the microgrid — not dictate it — and their team's depth in energy orchestration made the integration seamless. AmpEdge balances every charging session against the solar, storage, and grid power available in real time, so the buses stay charged and the site stays resilient. We're proud to play a part in what is now the largest transit depot microgrid in the country." - Joachim Lohse, CEO, Ampcontrol

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ABOUT AMPCONTROL

Ampcontrol is an AI-powered EV charging and energy management software company on a mission to help fleets electrify faster. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in New York with offices in Germany and Spain, its cloud-based platform connects to any OCPP-compatible charger to optimize charging, streamline operations, and lower energy costs for transit, trucking, school bus, and other commercial fleets. AmpEdge, Ampcontrol's on-site controller, adds reliable local load management and offline operation, working alongside Ampcontrol Cloud to integrate charging with on-site generation and storage — keeping complex sites efficient, resilient, and simple to operate. Ampcontrol maintains 99.999% software uptime and has optimized more than 1,000,000 charging sessions to date.

ABOUT THE EMTOC PROJECT

The David F. Bone EMTOC microgrid in Montgomery County, Maryland is developed, owned, and operated by AlphaStruxure under an Energy as a Service agreement, with Mortenson as EPC partner and WSP as engineer of record. It is the largest self-sustaining transit depot microgrid in the United States and the first on the East Coast designed to incorporate on-site green hydrogen production.

ABOUT ALPHASTRUXURE

AlphaStruxure designs, builds, owns, operates, and maintains tailored energy infrastructure, delivering energy per customer demand without requiring significant capital outlay. Unlike other Energy as a Service providers, AlphaStruxure owns its clients’ systems for their lifecycle, so it holds a long-term interest in their success. With a zero-CapEx financing model and a systems mindset, AlphaStruxure is fully invested in achieving clients’ long-term outcomes on resilience, reliability, greenhouse gas reduction, and cost stability without the complexity.