Buffalo Apartment Battery Tests Storage Safety in Multifamily Housing

A 3.75 megawatt-hour battery at a Buffalo apartment complex puts two questions at the center of multifamily energy storage: Can a large system help manage electricity costs, and can it do so safely inside a residential building? The project at Peace Bridge Place is designed to demonstrate both, while giving residents a source of backup power.

Viridi, the battery manufacturer, and developer Good Carbon Co. say the installation is among the largest battery systems in a U.S. residential building. It can power the affordable housing complex for several days, according to the companies. Its operating model is straightforward: charge when electricity is plentiful, then use stored energy when demand rises or the grid is under strain.

Storage can shift when the building draws power

The battery is intended to reduce the complex’s reliance on grid electricity during periods of high demand. Peace Bridge Place can be paid by its utility, National Grid, for avoiding power drawn from the grid and for sending electricity back when needed. Those payments can lower the building’s overall electricity costs, a potential benefit for residents. The system can also supply power during outages.

That flexibility matters for a building designed around electric equipment. Peace Bridge Place uses geothermal energy for heating and cooling instead of natural gas, and its developers wanted additional, resilient power. Viridi CEO Jon M. Williams said local electricity demand can exceed available supply, and that National Grid supported the project.

Battery storage can match electricity supply with demand when wind and solar production varies. Systems charge when those sources generate power and release it later, including when demand is high. They can also store electricity from hydropower. Buffalo’s proximity to Niagara Falls is relevant because most of New York’s hydropower is produced there, and the state is one of the country’s leading hydropower producers.

For building owners and utilities, the potential value goes beyond backup. If stored electricity can meet part of peak demand, a building can draw less from the grid at costly or constrained times. NYSERDA helped fund the Peace Bridge Place project as part of its focus on including disadvantaged communities in the clean energy transition. The complex qualifies as affordable housing because its renters earn no more than 80% of the area’s median income, Good Carbon said.

Fire risk remains the barrier to wider use

Large batteries already accompany some solar and wind projects, while homeowners use smaller systems to store rooftop solar power and provide backup. Installing larger systems in apartment buildings has been less common, with cost and fire risk among the obstacles. Fires involving large batteries have drawn attention and prompted some communities to resist further development. The Electric Power Research Institute says battery failure rates have fallen as more systems have been installed.

Viridi says it spent six years and $10 million developing a container intended to prevent a battery failure from spreading. Half of that spending went to batteries destroyed during testing. The system uses plates, pouches and spacing to isolate individual cells. Williams said that if one cell fails, its energy dissipates instead of moving to neighboring cells, keeping gas, smoke, heat and fire inside the container.

A test intended to assess indoor safety required the battery to be forced to fail while cheesecloth covered the container. The cloth did not char or ignite, according to the test record. In April, Viridi said the system had met Underwriters Laboratories safety standards for indoor installation without additional fire suppression in the building. Clean-energy finance expert Jigar Shah described the Peace Bridge Place system as a milestone for addressing safety concerns and said Viridi was the only company to consistently pass what he called a “near impossible” test.

Manufacturing capacity and demand add context

Viridi has manufactured batteries in Buffalo since 2018 and also has a facility in Richmond, California. A medical research building in Buffalo uses its system, too. Williams said the Buffalo plant could produce enough battery packs in a year to supply about 14,000 average U.S. homes for 24 hours. California provided a grant that helped with renovations at the Richmond facility.

California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said more than two-thirds of California’s electricity comes from clean energy and credited batteries with helping support that supply. As electricity demand grows, he said, storage can help keep the grid reliable, reduce pollution and contain costs. He also pointed to 2,000 battery storage systems being added each week in California and a project described as the world’s largest under construction in Fresno County.

Hochschild sees batteries as a major energy industry for the coming decades. Shah, meanwhile, expects far more U.S. homes to use batteries for backup by 2030 and said strategic deployment could meet more electricity demand while avoiding costly grid upgrades. Those outcomes depend on storage being installed where it can serve demand and on systems meeting safety expectations.

For multifamily housing, Peace Bridge Place offers a real-world example of how storage may connect building design, utility costs and power resilience. NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris said the project helps demonstrate the safety and viability of this kind of installation. Whether the approach spreads will depend on performance in operation, the economics for housing providers and residents, and continued confidence in battery safety.