Energy Vault builds its first energy storage system in China

Energy Vault, with headquarters in Lugano in the Swiss canton of Ticino and Westlake Village in California, has announced the groundbreaking for the first deployment of its gravity-based energy storage system in China. The provider of sustainable, grid-based energy storage solutions is constructing one of its gravity-based EVx systems with a capacity of 100 megawatt hours in Rudong in the province of Jiangsu outside of Shanghai. It aims to supplement the national Chinese energy grid by storing renewable energies in the State Grid Corporation of China’s network. It is the largest energy supplier in the world and covers 88 percent of all Chinese territories.

The start of construction follows the licensing agreement announced on February 1. This involves the Houston-based energy provider Atlas Renewable LLC and its majority shareholder, China Tianying Inc., which specializes in environmental management and waste treatment. According to the information provided, two large global energy and construction companies, Three Gorges Construction Engineering Group and China Construction New Energy Shanghai, have promised to participate in the Energy Vault energy storage project and support its implementation in China.

Energy Vault co-founder and CEO Robert Piconi comments in the press release: “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.” According to Atlas Renewable CEO Eric Fang, the world’s two largest economies have joined forces using Energy Vault’s “breakthrough, innovative technology” to fight climate change. For this reason, the Chairman of China Tianying, Yan Shengjun, states that the Rudong project will be “historically noteworthy”.