Energy Vault inks massive China deal for gravity-based storage project

The gravity-based, long duration energy storage technology of Swiss company Energy Vault has gained a foothold in the potentially massive China market, through a deal that will kick off with a100MWh project in the Jiangsu Province in the second half of the year.

Energy Vault said this week it had signed a $50 million License and Royalty agreement with US-based Atlas Renewable and its majority investor China Tianying to deploy its proprietary gravity energy storage technology and management software platform in China, Hong Kong and Macau.

As part of the deal, Atlas Renewable would also invest an additional $50 million to “upsize” Energy Vault’s current private placement investment (“PIPE”) from $150 million to $200 million, the companies said.

The $50 million in technology licensing would form part of a multi-year agreement geared toward future multi-GWh deployments of Energy Vault’s innovative EVx platform, with the first 100MWh facility to begin in 2022 at a pre-selected site in Rudong, Jiangsu Province, outside of Shanghai.

The companies would also assess the reuse of available waste materials such as coal combustion residuals, mine tailings, waste fiberglass and concrete debris to make up the “mobile masses” used in the construction of the gravity energy storage systems.

Energy Vault’s “gigawatt scale” technology is a kinetic energy based solution inspired by pumped hydro, but using blocks of solid material instead of water.

Energy Vault’s eco-friendly composite blocks – which will be made by re-using waste material, including wind-turbine blades – are lifted to store electricity and lowered when it is needed again, using gravity to generate the power as they descend.

In a statement on Wednesday, Energy Vault CEO and co-founder, Robert Piconi, said that while entering the China market was “not originally a part of our five-year business plan,” it was a welcome early mark.

“Our agreement with Atlas Renewable and broader relationship with China Tianying marks a significant new milestone representing the company’s first licensing agreement and also the expansion of our global footprint into what will become the largest renewable energy storage growth market in the world over the next 10 years,” said Piconi

“The incremental investments and licensing fees of $100 million this year create tremendous financial flexibility for Energy Vault to execute our plans across the globe to progress our mission of decarbonising the planet,” he said.

The $50 million investment tip-in by Altlas Renewable follows the $50 million upsize investment form Korea Zinc, just last month, in a deal that will see Korea Zinc’s Australia-based subsidiary, Sun Metals, deploy Energy Vault’s technology at its north Queensland zinc refinery.

Also in Australia, Energy Vault signed an MoU with Australian resources giant BHP in December of 2021, which also agreed to assess local supply chain collaboration and eco-brick manufacturing.

Atlas Renewable chair said this week that it sees broad applications for implementing Energy Vault’s gravity energy storage and power generation system throughout China and its territories.

“[Energy Vault’s] technology removes a key obstacle to full utilisation of energy produced globally from green energy sources,” said Atlas Renewable CEO Eric Fang.

“Following China’s commitment to achieving Carbon Peak in 2030 and Carbon Neutrality in 2060, renewable energy storage is and will be the answer.”

“We have a core strategic synergy with Energy Vault in the sustainable way they have designed their system to take advantage of waste materials for recycling to avoid landfilling these materials, and this will be a strong advantage of our cooperation,” added China Tianying chair Yan Shengjun.