Viridi, the industry leader in fail-safe battery energy storage systems (BESS), and Budderfly, the fastest-growing energy-as-a-service company in the U.S., has announced a nationwide deployment initiative that will bring Viridi’s commercial battery energy storage systems to 100 Budderfly-managed commercial sites across the United States.
This partnership marks a significant expansion of Budderfly’s leading energy infrastructure platform, helping commercial facilities such as restaurants, retail, fitness, and manufacturing sites to modernize aging energy infrastructure, improve energy performance and strengthen operational efficiency without the upfront investment.
As businesses face rising electricity demand, grid constraints, and increasing pressure to improve resiliency, distributed energy storage is becoming an increasingly important part of commercial energy infrastructure. Viridi’s RPSLinkEX systems are engineered for seamless commercial integration and support broader efforts to strengthen grid resiliency and long-term energy optimization. As part of Budderfly’s integrated energy efficiency and energy management solution, the battery systems will help manage energy demand while supporting broader grid flexibility initiatives.
“As electricity demand continues to grow, businesses need integrated energy solutions that help them operate more efficiently while supporting the evolving needs of the grid,” said Al Subbloie, CEO of Budderfly. “This partnership is an important milestone in Budderfly’s multi-phase energy storage strategy, which will see deployments to thousands of commercial sites.”
“As businesses face growing pressure to improve energy resiliency, safety has become one of the most important considerations in commercial battery storage deployment,” said Jon M. Williams, CEO of Viridi. “Our partnership with Budderfly demonstrates that scalable energy storage systems can be deployed efficiently without compromising on safety, reliability, or performance. Together, we’re helping customers address growing energy demand challenges while supporting a more resilient energy future.”
Battery deployments are now advancing across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California in the first phase of Budderfly’s strategic expansion to build a network of flexible, grid-responsive energy assets. The latest deployment features two custom Budderfly-branded units installed at the Shelton, Connecticut headquarters of OEM Controls, a leading manufacturer of industrial control systems and electronic technologies for commercial and industrial equipment markets. This builds on Viridi battery systems already installed at three Dunkin’ and 99 Restaurants locations.
To understand the significance of the partnership and the growing role of commercial energy storage, Shweta Kumari, Sub-Editor of The Battery Magazine spoke with Jon M. Williams, CEO of Viridi, and Al Subbloie, CEO of Budderfly.
Viridi’s fail-safe battery technology is central to this deployment initiative. How does your approach to battery safety differ from conventional lithium-ion energy storage systems, and why is this particularly important for deployments in occupied commercial environments?
Our technology was specifically developed to prevent propagation of thermal runaway. Recognizing that even the best battery cells in the world have a likelihood of having a catastrophic thermal event in their lifetimes, we build Viridi systems with passive architecture that prevent this from happening. In fact, our UL 9540A test (slab mounted, indoor) indicates that when thermal runaway is triggered, that the pack is inert to the space emitting no measurable heat, fire, smoke, or gas. In the context of other results, this is a unique outcome for lithium-ion systems.
As battery energy storage adoption expands beyond utility-scale projects into customer-facing commercial facilities, what technological and market trends do you believe will shape the next phase of distributed energy storage deployment across North America?
As the market transitions from installing large BESS away from people to installations in neighborhoods and inside of buildings where people live and work, we will see considerably more focus on safety. The intention of letting a BESS burn in place for weeks after an occurrence of thermal runaway should not transfer to occupied buildings. On the software side we will also see more enrollment and adoption of more value streams – as utility rates continue to evolve, the answer to “How are we driving a return with our BESS?” will evolve based on local opportunities.
What strategic factors led Budderfly to integrate battery energy storage systems across its commercial customer portfolio, and how do you expect these deployments to enhance energy resilience and operational performance for businesses?
Battery storage is a natural evolution of our Energy as a Service model. As businesses face rising energy costs, increasing demand on the grid, and growing expectations around reliability, behind-the-meter battery storage provides an additional way to help customers manage energy more effectively.
What makes these deployments particularly powerful is that they’re not standalone assets. We integrate batteries alongside energy efficiency upgrades, solar, and intelligent controls to create a more comprehensive energy solution. That allows customers to reduce peak demand, lower operating costs, and improve resilience without taking on the complexity of managing the technology or having to provide the capital themselves.
We also see batteries playing an increasingly important role in the broader energy landscape. As more businesses add battery storage and other onsite energy technologies, they create flexible capacity that can help ease pressure on the grid while delivering direct value to the facilities where they’re installed. That’s a win for our customers and a win for the energy system as a whole.
With energy costs, grid constraints, and sustainability targets becoming increasingly important for commercial enterprises, how do you see energy storage evolving within Budderfly’s broader energy infrastructure and energy-as-a-service strategy over the coming years?
We see energy storage becoming an increasingly important part of how commercial buildings are powered and managed. As electricity demand grows, energy costs become more volatile, and grid constraints increase, businesses need energy infrastructure that performs better without requiring capital investment or operational oversight. That’s where battery storage can play a significant role.
Within Budderfly’s Energy as a Service model, storage is one component of a broader energy infrastructure strategy that combines efficiency, onsite generation, intelligent controls, and ongoing energy management. Because we manage these assets on behalf of our customers, we’re able to optimize how they work together to reduce costs, improve reliability and deliver stronger performance across an entire portfolio.
As adoption grows, energy storage will become increasingly valuable for making better use of existing energy resources. We believe the future of energy will rely not only on building more generation but also on managing demand more intelligently. Battery storage will play a key part in that transition, helping create a more flexible, resilient, and cost-effective energy system for businesses and the grid alike.
Energy storage is a core component of our integrated, portfolio-wide energy strategy. Within our energy-as-a-service model, batteries work alongside efficiency solutions, solar, and other energy assets to optimize overall performance.
Over time, the role of storage will continue to expand as deployments scale. A larger, connected fleet of batteries allows us to deliver greater cost savings and resiliency at individual sites while unlocking additional value through grid-responsive capabilities. This approach helps reduce strain on the grid by better managing existing assets rather than relying solely on new large-scale infrastructure.
Ultimately, energy storage will play a central role in enabling a more flexible, resilient, and cost-effective energy system for commercial customers.
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