Buffalo Apartment Gets 3.75 MWh Battery Test for Safety
A 3.75 megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery system has been installed at the Peace Bridge Place affordable-housing complex in Buffalo, New York, to store excess power and supply the building when the grid is strained or during outages. The system, built by battery maker Viridi and developer Good Carbon Co., can power the complex for several days and is among the largest residential-building battery installations in the United States.
The project is funded in part by the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA), which sees the installation as a demonstration of safety and viability for large-scale storage in disadvantaged communities. NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris said the test “goes a long way toward demonstrating the safety and viability of these types of projects.”
Viridi spent six years and $10 million developing a fire-proof container for the batteries, including destroying half of the battery inventory during testing. The design isolates each cell with plates, pouches and spacing so that a failure in one cell does not propagate. The system passed a “near impossible” Underwriters Laboratories safety test in which the battery was forced to fail while covered with cheesecloth; the cloth did not char or ignite.
Jigar Shah, a clean-energy financing expert, called the Peace Bridge Place system a milestone in overcoming safety concerns and noted that Viridi is the only company to consistently pass this stringent test. Shah predicts far more U.S. homes will use batteries for backup power by 2030, reducing the need for costly grid upgrades.
The battery will be compensated by the utility, National Grid, for reducing grid draw during peak demand and for exporting power when needed, lowering overall electricity costs for residents. The building, which uses an all-electric geothermal heating and cooling system, was chosen because its electricity demand can exceed local supply, making resilient storage essential.
California officials also praised Viridi’s work. California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild highlighted the role of batteries in achieving the state’s clean-energy goals and called the battery industry “the single most important energy industry for the next several decades.” Viridi’s Buffalo plant, operating since 2018, could produce enough packs in a year to power roughly 14,000 average U.S. homes for 24 hours.
Why it matters
Large, fire-rated battery storage in multifamily housing shows insurers a viable path to underwriting residential energy-storage risks.
FAQ
What is the capacity of the battery system at Peace Bridge Place?
The system is a 3.75 megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery.
How much did Viridi spend developing the fire-proof container?
Viridi spent six years and $10 million, with half the cost for batteries destroyed during testing.
Which agencies funded or supported the project?
The New York State Energy Research and Development Agency funded the project, and utility National Grid supported it.
What safety test did the battery pass?
It passed an Underwriters Laboratories test that forced the battery to fail while covered with cheesecloth, which did not char or ignite.
Source: Insurance Journal. See the original source for full details.
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