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Energy Vault announces China's first commercially capable gravity energy storage venture and promises to revolutionize the renewable market.
Switzerland-based storage developer Energy Vault recently confirmed China's state-owned grid interconnection and reverse gravity energy operation for the Rudong EVx system announced in 2023. It is the first EVx gravity energy storage in network scale (GESS) to be commercialized.
O Energy Vault's innovative gravity power design, called EVx, is the first to be sold and China has already announced three other grid-scale projects in the country following the same line. There is a 17MW/68MWh GESS EVx deployment in the city of Zhangye, Gansu province, being built adjacent to a renewable energy generation site and a national grid interconnection site. 50MW/200MWh EVx located in Huailai Cunrui City, Zhangjiakou County, Hebei Province.
How much gravity energy will be generated by the Energy Vault in China?
The company's last two projects in China were previously announced at the same time as other deployments in the country and are already being built. It is worth mentioning that Energy Vault's gravity power projects are adjacent to renewable energy generation and national grid interconnection sites.
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In August 2020, Energy Vault secured $110 million from Soft Bank's Vision Fund. The company has already built a 122-metre-high demonstration tower and has plans to build six-head cranes up to 30 meters taller.
China is the largest gravity energy storage market
Robert Piconi, president and CEO of Energy Vault, said in a statement that the company is pleased to see the growing market adoption of Energy Vault's gravity energy storage technology in China, the world's largest energy storage market, supported by groundbreaking new project announcements and other milestones within China's national energy policy framework for gravity energy storage.
Rudong and Zhangye City's EVx systems were recently selected and formally announced as part of a project list with the classification of new energy storage demonstration pilot projects by China's National Energy Administration (NEA). According to Energy Vault, this highlights the substantial increase in demand for renewable energy sources and emphasizes the role of gravity storage in China's path to decarbonization.
How does Energy Vault gravity energy storage work?
The entire concept depends only on one of the four fundamental forces of nature, gravity. A pre-programmed crane atop a massive tower lifts and stacks colossal bricks on top of one another, utilizing excess energy from solar and wind farms. When demand exceeds energy production, the crane reverses the process, recovering energy by unstacking the brick tower.
Lithium-ion batteries rely on rare earth materials, the extraction of which comes with several environmental and humanitarian problems, and they tend to lose their capacity over time. The concept is similar to pumped hydroelectric systems, which use bodies of water instead of heavy blocks and a hill instead of a tower, and which have been around for at least a century.
Other gravity-based systems are also being developed in Germany, Scotland, the USA and Morocco. The company claims its system can operate for more than 40 years with standard maintenance, providing an advantage over conventional batteries.
