🗽 Responsible Grid Pilot NYC

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NYC Hit 100°F. Here’s What Our 100+ Indoor Batteries Did Next.

Last week, New York City baked under the most intense heat wave in over 13 years.

Temperatures soared into triple digits. Transformers caught fire. Con Edison issued voltage reductions across several neighborhoods. Thousands of residents were left in blackout or brownout conditions. And the summer is only getting started.

But at over 100 living rooms & bedrooms across all five boroughs, something different was happening. Through the Responsible Grid Pilot by Standard Potential, over 100 batteries paired with A/C units worked quietly in the background — helping stabilize the grid, keep residents cool, and avoid some of the worst-case outcomes.

Here’s what we saw, measured in real time from the wires of NYC:

🌡️ A/C Usage Surged — and So Did the Stress on the Grid

As the heat dome settled over the Northeast from June 23 to June 25, air conditioning usage in our pilot doubled from 10–20 kW up to 30–50 kW.

But unlike what many assume, A/C usage didn’t peak midday. Instead, it lagged several hours behind the temperature curve, often peaking closer to midnight — when people returned home and tried to cool down enough to sleep (in the city that never sleeps?).

In NYC’s dense apartment housing, A/C demand dominates residential energy usage — especially during nights when temperature stay elevated.

🔋 Batteries Provided Seamless Grid Support — Without Sacrificing Comfort

During heatwaves and grid emergencies, Con Edison calls demand response (DR) events — typically 4-hour windows when participants are asked to reduce electricity use to help stabilize the grid.

Here’s a closer look at how our entire battery fleet responded in aggregate to one of the recent events:

• Before the event: Batteries (shown in green bars) were fully charged and standing by.
• First half of the event: The system completely offset A/C power use, taking that load off the grid.
• Second half: Batteries continued to discharge, steadily reducing demand through the rest of the event window.

All of this happened automatically. No manual inputs, no discomfort — just cold air and clean grid support.

Better yet, residents participating in DR earn money directly through Con Edison’s Smart Usage Rewards, helping offset heavy summer energy bills.

⚠️ Low Grid Voltage Causing Brownouts? Our Batteries Saw It First

Here’s something most New Yorkers don’t know:

When grid voltage drops — even slightly — undervoltage can damage appliances or prevent A/Cs from turning on.

That’s exactly what happened during the heatwave. In Williamsburg, our battery fleet recorded voltage sags as low as 85V (normal is 120V) for over two days straight — classic brownout conditions.

These weren’t isolated cases. Transformer fires and voltage reductions made it to Reddit threads and local news:

• Brooklyn voltage reduction thread
• Williamsburg outage reports

While many A/C units failed to start, our batteries protected the cooling systems — bridging the voltage gap and keeping households comfortable even as the grid strained.

🔍 What This Means for NYC’s Energy Future

This heatwave showed us what’s possible when we rethink how cities power themselves:

• Safe & distributed batteries can stabilize the grid without waiting years for new infrastructure & interconnections.
• They can reduce peak load even when A/C usage doubles.
• They can support power quality in stressed neighborhoods — not just during events, but 24/7.
• And perhaps most importantly, these batteries put money back in the pockets of New Yorkers — especially in communities most affected by heat and pollution.

We’ll be sharing more results throughout the summer, including:

• Total kilowatt-hours shifted
• Money saved by participating homes
• Emissions impacts, with 35% peaks on the NYISO grid at +380 gCO₂eq / kWh

Until then, stay cool, stay safe — and thank you to our pilot participants for being part of the Responsible Grid!

Responsible Grid ™ is a pilot program by Standard Potential.

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