Energy Vault, Two Others Construct Gravity-Based Energy Storage in China

Energy Vault Holdings announced the groundbreaking for the first EVx deployment for gravity based energy storage system in China. The 100 MWh EVx system is being built adjacent to a wind farm and national grid site in Rudong located outside of Shanghai to augment and balance China’s national energy grid through the delivery of renewable energy to the grid which is the world’s largest utility and provides power to more than 1.1 billion Chinese citizens.

Energy Vault had a previous agreement for renewable energy storage in partnership with Atlas Renewable and China Tianying that deals in zero-carbon clean energy technologies.

The project is the first utility scale gravity-based storage deployment between a U.S. and Chinese company and was approved by the local city government and provincial government with support from the Chinese government as there is a policy for Carbon Peak in 2030 and Carbon Neutrality in 2060.

Energy Vault and Atlas Renewable signed a $50 million licensing agreement for the use of Energy Vault’s proprietary gravity-based energy storage technology and its technology agnostic energy management and asset optimization software suite in the Chinese power market.

The agreement also includes terms governing volume-based deployment royalties and covers maintenance, monitoring and the beneficial reuse of waste materials within Energy Vault’s composite blocks. The payment of the $50 million licensing fee is scheduled to be completed in 2022.

Energy Vault’s partnership with Atlas Renewable and China Tianying, and the deployment of EVx, are directly aligned with the U.S.-China Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action.

“Our first commercial EVx deployment in China is a significant milestone for Energy Vault and for the People’s Republic of China as it pursues its decarbonization goals,” said Robert Piconi, Chairman, Co-Founder and CEO, Energy Vault.

Piconi added, “China is rapidly expanding its use of renewable energy coupled with annual energy storage mandates in order to meet its decarbonization goals. We are very pleased that EVx and our Energy Management Software Platform have already received local regulatory endorsement and is being deployed now as a critical enabling technology to support China’s energy transition and carbon neutrality goals.”

Eric Fang, Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Renewable, informed, “The world’s two largest economies have joined forces to meaningfully address climate change with breakthrough, innovative technology that will play a critical role in enabling China’s clean energy transition and 30-60 policy. This project clearly demonstrates the seriousness with which China takes its COP26 commitments and will serve as a model for global decarbonization.”

CNTY Chairman Yan stated, “The achievement of the Rudong project, will be historically noteworthy, as a path forward, enabled by both Chinese and American private business working together cooperatively and effectively, for a common climate goal: non carbon based energy storage that fully completes the energy production and use cycle of renewable electric power generated from non-carbon sources.”

Energy Vault informed that its gravity-based solutions are based on the well-understood physics and mechanical engineering fundamentals of pumped hydroelectric energy storage, but replace water with custom-made composite blocks that can be made from low-cost and locally sourced materials, including local soil, mine tailings, coal combustion residuals (coal ash), and end-of-life decommissioned wind turbine blades.

The gravity based energy storage systems are designed to help utilities, independent power producers and large industrial energy users significantly reduce their levelized cost of energy while maintaining power reliability.