A big battery in the Bronx will help community break from polluting power

A new battery storage site has opened in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx, built by NineDot Energy. The 20-megawatt system stores electricity and releases it during peak hours, when the grid is under the most strain, with enough capacity to power nearly 20,000 homes at those times. It uses Tesla batteries and sits on the former site of a fuel oil trucking company.

The project matters for a neighborhood that has dealt with heavy air pollution for years, including thousands of diesel trucks passing through daily and two high-emission "peaker" power plants nearby that run only during periods of high demand. Hunts Point and the neighboring Mott Haven area have seen asthma-related emergency room visits at two to three times the citywide rate. Battery storage like this is meant to help retire those peaker plants over time and support the area's shift toward electrified trucking and market operations, while easing pressure on the local power grid.

This is one of nine NineDot battery projects that helped the grid during New York's extreme heat wave in July 2026, together supplying nearly 34 megawatts at peak times to support Con Edison's system. The company already runs the largest battery fleet in Con Edison's New York City service area and plans to reach 400 megawatts of storage in operation, under construction, or in development by the end of 2026. For homeowners, this kind of neighborhood-scale battery isn't something you install yourself, but it reflects a broader shift toward local storage that can ease strain on the grid your own home relies on.