Enel X, the Enel Group’s advanced energy services business line, and Related Companies, a global real estate firm, announced the launch of the largest battery storage system in New York City. The 4.8 MW/16.4 MWh in-front-of-the-meter battery system is located at Related’s Gateway Center in East New York, Brooklyn community and will support the local grid of New York energy company, Con Edison, in periods of high peak demand, helping to keep service reliable.
“New York is a complex, densely-populated market in continuous growth, which requires innovative technologies to address evolving energy challenges. Storage systems, like this one, are among the critical tools that can help take on these challenges, by increasing energy systems’ flexibility and stability,” said Francesco Venturini, Head of Enel X. “Enel X works with customers and partners to offer solutions tailored to their specific needs with the aim to generate value for customers, while also benefitting the grid.”
Enel X was selected by Con Edison under the New York energy company’s Brooklyn-Queens Neighborhood Program, which works with customers to help them manage their consumption and the way they use energy. This program and the deployment of solutions, like the battery storage project at the Gateway Center, have helped Con Edison defer costly infrastructure upgrades. Through a lease agreement with Related, Enel X and Related installed and connected the storage system to Con Edison’s grid. The system’s design enables a direct relationship between Enel X’s energy storage resource and Con Edison, while simplifying the lease transaction from a real estate perspective by removing the complexities of energy management and tenant participation from the structure. This novel, highly replicable space leasing real-estate structure could be leveraged to help deliver many of the State and City’s energy and sustainability goals where commercial real estate is a necessary stakeholder.
“Sustainable solutions that support growing energy demands in large urban markets like New York City, while benefiting local communities, are more important than ever before,” said Luke Falk, Vice President of Related Companies. “We have been an innovator in sustainable building practices for decades and investing in sustainability in East New York for over 15 years, having opened the LEED Silver-certified Gateway Center in 2002 and integrating large solar installations in the neighborhood. We saw the opportunity for a storage facility onsite and are gratified to have partnered with Enel X to bring a clean energy solution that will improve energy reliability in the community.”
To date, the Gateway Center project has delivered over 100 MWh of stored electricity from the battery storage system to the local grid, providing support during periods of peak demand.