Climate Week in Brooklyn: Solar, Batteries, and a Party Powered by Pila

This week, for NYC Climate Week, we joined our partners at Brooklyn SolarWorks on their rooftop in Gowanus for Batteries in Brooklyn. More than 80 neighbors, customers, and journalists came out to see plug-in home batteries up close and help us launch our pilot program together.

Everything ran on Pila. The DJ booth, the lights, the projector, the popcorn machine, the arcade games, even the lava lamp, all powered by Pila batteries charged on Brooklyn SolarWorks solar.

Cole sat down with Brooklyn SolarWorks CEO T.R. Ludwig and New York Times contributing writer (and Brooklyn SolarWorks customer) Clive Thompson for a fireside chat on why backup power has been so hard to get in the five boroughs, and what changes now.

Why New York

New York City is one of the hardest places in the country to install a home battery. Strict building codes, complex permitting, and a housing stock full of apartments, brownstones, and co-ops have kept whole-home systems out of reach for most residents. Brooklyn SolarWorks has spent a decade figuring out how to put solar on those roofs. Storage has been the missing piece.

Pila plugs into a standard outlet and works with or without solar. For Brooklyn SolarWorks customers, it stores what their panels make. For everyone else, it charges when power is cheap and keeps the fridge, the router, and medical devices running when the grid goes down. Residents across Brooklyn and Queens are already running Pila alongside Brooklyn SolarWorks panels.

Project Neighborhood

We also launched Project Neighborhood, starting in New York. Get a few neighbors together and everyone saves: $75 off per battery when 5 or more households order, and $100 off at 10 or more. One Pila protects a family. A block full of them starts to protect the neighborhood.

Join Project Neighborhood →

Read the coverage in Solar Power World →

Thanks to T.R., Clive, and the whole Brooklyn SolarWorks team for hosting. ⚡️