India’s largest power company relies on Energy Vault

The renewable energy industry is still struggling to completely replace fossil fuel power due to production unpredictability and intermittency from reliance on factors such as wind and sunlight. In the absence of more efficient and cost-effective storage, the amount of electricity that can be delivered to the grid from renewable energy sources, even though now widely affordable, has been limited.

 

Energy Vault attempts to resolve the problem with a new approach to energy storage. The Ticino-based startup applies conventional physics fundamentals of gravity and potential energy in its Utility scale solution, which combines an innovative six-arm crane design that lifts specially designed massive concrete bricks with a proprietary cloud-based software platform that orchestrates the storage and discharge of electricity. The company can deliver all the benefits of a pumped hydro system at a much lower price, with higher roundtrip efficiency, and without the requirement for specific land topography. The solution is also environmentally friendly. Here in a simple video proposed by WEF.

 

Thanks to their unique and innovative approach, the startup has won a partnership with Tata Power Company, India’s largest integrated power company. The Indian company agrees to purchase 35MWh of gravity-based energy storage as the initial part of the collaboration; for Energy Vault this is the first of many application of their solution on multiple continents. The startup's next milestone includes the deployment of the Energy Vault System on large-scale, thanks to the collaboration with Tata. 

 

Facing renewal energy challenges requires research, investment and collaboration. Energy Vault is currently incubated in Idealab. The startup also recently announced a technology and commercial partnership with CEMEX Research Group AG, a Swiss subsidiary of Mexico-based CEMEX (NYSE: CX), that will focus on material applications which include the optimization of various concrete based composite materials that will support Energy Vault’s system deployments globally.

 

“Energy Vault’s team has developed a disruptive platform, and we are enthusiastic to work with their team to deploy an environmentally efficient and cost-effective energy storage solution that is highly viable,” said Davide Zampini, Head of CEMEX Global R&D and IP. “We share a common commitment to enable a future where resources are used responsibly, which is paramount to CEMEX’s strategy for sustainable development.”

 

The Swiss startup believes that future versions of their solution could perform even better and be used for a range of applications. 

(GP)