Energy company’s plan to place 150-ton batteries on Williamsburg rooftop ignites tenants’ fears

Residents in a Brooklyn building say they feel like “guinea pigs” in a plan to install 150-ton lithium-ion batteries on the roof of their building.Microgrid Networks’ plan to install the first large-scale residential project in New York City already has FDNY approval and is awaiting special permission from the city, but residents of the Williamsburg building continue to worry about their safety.“They just want to push this through and it will catch on fire and I will lose my home and potentially my life, or loved ones,” Jennifer Kuipers, an artist who has lived in a large industrial loft on the fifth floor since 1995, said at a Community Board meeting Tuesday night. “It would happen very fast and then it’s like, ‘Oops, oh well, now we’ll make laws.’”The board has agreed and advised against the project. Board members said the plan, first reported by Bklyner, was…

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