Air conditioning battery program for renters could help cities manage grid stress during heat waves

When a heat wave hits, millions of air conditioners switch on at once, straining the electric grid and driving up the risk of outages—and residents' power bills. To ease that strain, power companies may ask customers to do something many probably won't: Set the air conditioner a few degrees higher. Now, a renter-friendly pilot program in New York City is testing a different approach: plug-in batteries that can power air conditioners offline during peak demand, helping take pressure off the grid at its most stressed moments while still keeping residents cool. "It's basically a souped-up version of the power bank that you would use to charge your phone when you go out," said Andrew Wang, the chief executive officer of Every Electric, the company behind the pilot, which has partnered with the city's energy company Con Edison. The devices, about the size of a microwave, charge when electricity demand is low and then run window AC units for a few hours when demand spikes. It's one of many partners participating in Con Edison's demand response programs, which pay customers to reduce or shift electricity use to support the grid. The pilot program is expanding to more than 1,000 homes this summer, and participants can get rewarded with cash rebates. Experts say this initiative reflects the broader shift toward so-called virtual power plants, in which many small, distributed energy resources are coordinated to reduce strain during peak demand. When scaled, solutions like this could have a significant impact on power reliability and affordability. When electricity demand spikes, utilities often turn to backup power plants that don't run as often, and are typically less efficient and more polluting, said Kevin Brehm, a manager at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit that researches energy systems and the transition to clean power. Over time, those spikes can push utilities to build more power plants, often fossil-fuel based, to meet demand, with the costs eventually passed down to consumers. This article was provided by The Associated Press.