Can larger batteries safely power residential buildings? A project in New York aims to show how

A battery system installed in a Buffalo, New York, apartment building will store excess energy when it’s plentiful and power the building when the grid is strained and electricity is costly. The manufacturer and state officials hope it will show that larger batteries can safely operate where people live and work.

The 3.75 megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery system, which can power the Peace Bridge Place affordable housing complex for several days, is among the largest battery systems in a U.S. residential building, manufacturer Viridi and developer Good Carbon Co. said Tuesday.

“We want our electric power to be resilient, affordable and available. Distributed battery storage accomplishes all three,” Viridi CEO Jon M. Williams said. “The only thing that has been holding up installations at scale is safety; a lot of the products on the market over the last 10 years have burned things down.”

Deploying large batteries that can safely power apartment buildings is an important step toward replacing fossil fuels with renewables, experts say, but they’re uncommon because of the cost and concerns about fire risks. Already, larger batteries are paired with solar and wind projects, and homeowners are using smaller batteries to store excess energy from rooftop solar and for backup power.

How batteries help keep electricity flow steady

Batteries help maintain a steady flow of power when sources such as solar and wind are not producing. They charge when the sun is shining or when wind is blowing. That energy can then be used when demand is high.

Batteries can also store excess electricity from hydropower, and New York is one of the top hydropower-producing states. Buffalo is close to Niagara Falls, where most of the state’s hydropower is produced.

When electricity demand is high, Peace Bridge will use the battery. It will get paid by the utility for not drawing from the grid and for sending power back if needed. This helps lower the complex’s overall electricity costs, which benefits residents. The building can use the system during outages, too.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Agency helped fund the Peace Bridge Place project, as part of its focus on including disadvantaged communities in the clean energy transition.

“It goes a long way toward demonstrating the safety and viability of these types of projects,” said NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris.

Viridi has manufacturing facilities in Buffalo and Richmond, California, where a state grant assisted with renovations. California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said he’s impressed with the company.

More than two-thirds of California’s electricity comes from clean energy and batteries get a lot of credit for that, Hochschild said. As electricity demand grows, batteries help ensure the grid is reliable, reduce pollution and contain costs, he added.

“I believe the battery industry is the single most important energy industry for the next several decades,” said Hochschild, who co-founded the Electric Innovation Initiative to use electricity instead of fossil fuels more broadly throughout the U.S. economy.

Viridi’s system passed a ‘near impossible’ test

As large battery fires have garnered attention, some communities have opposed further development. However, the failure rate for batteries has decreased as more are installed, according to the Electric Power Research Institute.

Viridi spent six years and $10 million figuring out how to make a fireproof container for batteries. Half the cost was for batteries Viridi destroyed during testing.

Viridi uses plates, pouches and spacing to isolate each battery cell. If one fails, the energy dissipates instead of spreading to the next battery, so that no gas, smoke, heat or fire escapes the container, Williams said.

Jigar Shah, an expert in clean energy financing and deployment, said the Peace Bridge Place system is a milestone in overcoming safety concerns.

To ensure nothing would catch fire when used inside a residence, Viridi’s system had to pass a test where the battery was forced to fail while a cheesecloth covered the container. The cheesecloth did not char or ignite, according to the test report record.

Viridi announced in April it met stringent Underwriters Laboratories safety standards so its system could be installed indoors without adding additional fire suppression to a building.

Shah, who led the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office during the Biden administration, said Viridi is the only company to consistently pass this “near impossible” test.

Shah thinks far more U.S. homes will use batteries for backup power by 2030. The U.S. can meet much more electricity demand and avoid costly upgrades to the grid if batteries are strategically deployed, he added.

New York and California officials want forward-thinking energy solutions

Viridi and Good Carbon Co. chose the Peace Bridge apartments because the all-electric building uses a geothermal system for heating and cooling rather than natural gas and needed additional, resilient power. The electricity demand locally can exceed the available supply, so the utility National Grid supported the endeavor, Williams added.

Peace Bridge is considered affordable housing because renters earn no more than 80% of the area’s median income, Good Carbon said. It said energy storage will be an important part of future multifamily housing projects.

Viridi has been manufacturing in Buffalo since 2018. A medical research building in the city is using its battery system, too. Viridi’s plant could build enough battery packs in a year to supply energy for about 14,000 average U.S. homes for 24 hours, Williams said.

Harris, at NYSERDA, said the state needs more options like this for maintaining a reliable grid and managing costs. Gov. Kathy Hochul has made that a priority.

“If we don’t need to build generation, we can utilize the grid that we have more effectively, that’s extremely valuable to us,” she said.

In California, 2,000 battery storage systems are being added each week and the largest in the world is under construction in Fresno County, Hochschild said. He thinks the battery industry is poised to take off.

He said, “We’re just getting started.”

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