> While the morning rush is under way, the 2.8-kilowatt-hour battery can directly power the commercial oven to reduce the company’s reliance on the electric grid [...] Two more batteries are paired with energy-intensive refrigerators in the front.

> Businesses like Black Seed often pay hefty demand charges on their utility bills that reflect the maximum amount of power they use during a month – costs that can represent as much as half their total bill, on average. By shifting to battery power during key times [...]

All 3 "smart" batteries are provided, "free", by a local retail energy provider - which acts as an intermediary between local business and Con Ed, the local electrical utility.

Nice sounding, and little businesses gotta do what they can...but it sounds like 99% of the potential savings are higher up in the system. Could New York force Con Ed to allow connecting Tesla Megapacks (or similar at-scale energy storage units) to their grid? A 2.8k battery can't power Black Seed's commercial oven for long. And stacking the batteries up 'till they can would have obvious issues with inefficiencies of scale, local complexity, electrical/fire safety, and maybe floor loading.