KeyCapture Energy official warns New York faces a storage-driven reliability gap; details industry safety practices

ALBANY — Joel Viduna, executive vice president and board member at KeyCapture Energy, told the New York State Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee on an unspecified date that battery energy storage systems are an essential tool to address an emerging reliability shortfall in New York and described how modern projects are sited, built and regulated.

Viduna told the committee that KeyCapture has 14 operational battery projects totaling about 600 megawatts, including three in New York and 11 in Texas, and that the company has several dozen projects under development across more than 15 states. He said storage helps shift energy from times of surplus to times of peak demand and can respond far faster than other grid resources.

"Battery energy storage is unique in that it can instantly dispatch and can ramp up or down from idle to either full charging or discharging operation in mere milliseconds," Viduna said. He added that storage is well suited to New York because much of the state's generation is upstate while most demand is downstate, and transmission constraints mean short-duration capacity shortfalls downstate can last two to four hours — a gap storage can fill.

Why it matters: Viduna cited the New York Independent System Operator(NYISO) 2024 reliability needs assessment, saying it identifies a reliability need in New York City beginning in summer 2033 and projects a statewide margin decline that could leave no surplus power by 2034 without new resources. "Speaking as a developer of these assets, in New York, it can take seven years to bring one of these projects online," he said, urging faster development.

Safety and standards: Viduna described how modern battery projects must comply with multiple national and international safety codes, naming the National Fire Protection Association standard NFPA 855 and Underwriters Laboratories standards UL 9540 and UL 9540A as examples. He said current systems are designed to contain large fire events and prevent spread between containers and that setbacks and container spacing are set by code to limit off-site propagation.

Viduna addressed the widely publicized Moss Landing incident in California, saying it involved older equipment and an earlier generation of battery chemistry. "It is prior generation technology using nickel manganese cobalt batteries, which is not what the industry uses anymore," he said. He added that modern projects generally use lithium iron phosphate chemistry and are containerized with spacing designed to limit propagation.

On firefighting and emergency response, Viduna said project developers now engage local fire departments early, provide training and site tours before operation, and supply recurring training after commissioning. He explained that contemporary guidance often cautions against fighting certain battery fires with water because water can prolong thermal runaway; instead, many modern systems include gas-management systems and designs to limit event size.

Community engagement and siting: Viduna said developers run door-to-door outreach, host public forums, meet with planning authorities and fire departments in advance of entitlement and permitting, and conduct prevailing-wind studies to understand potential smoke pathways. He said code-based setbacks are typically 10 or 100 feet depending on design and that New York is updating codes and guidance to add measures recommended by the statefire marshal and the governorHochulinteragency fire safety task force.

Costs, duration and grid role: Viduna estimated capital costs and relative competitiveness: he said battery storage can be materially cheaper on operating cost than peaking natural-gas plants because storage uses effectively zero-marginal-cost energy (wind or solar) as fuel. He gave a rough industry figure of about $1,000 per kilowatt for battery energy storage capital cost versus higher figures for other plant types, and said batteries are most economically competitive against short-duration peaking plants, not necessarily base-load plants.

Interconnection and deployment barriers: Viduna told senators that interconnection processes have lengthened and become more expensive since FERC reforms in 2023, and that utilities and interconnection authorities are often short-staffed, which delays studies and increases developer risk. He endorsed approaches that manage connections dynamically rather than treating storage as a source of congestion.

Questions and follow-up: Committee members asked about thermal runaway risks, lifespan and cycle counts, emergency response, and siting near communities. Viduna said lithium iron phosphate chemistry has a higher onset temperature for thermal runaway than some cobalt-based chemistries and said modern systems are moving toward multi-hour durations (2to4+ hours) rather than the shorter-duration systems associated with earlier incidents. He said typical industry life assumptions are about 20 years and 12,000 cycles, with technology and materials improvements extending those figures.

Viduna said KeyCapture supports updated New York fire-code guidance and said the company works with local responders and third-party consultants that specialize in battery-fire training.

The committee also asked about placarding and contact information; Viduna said national codes and pending state guidance require on-site placards, phone numbers and training materials for first responders.

No formal action on policy was recorded during the presentation portion of the meeting.

Taper: Viduna concluded by reiterating the reliability timeline and urging coordination to build required capacity quickly; the committee thanked him and adjourned.