Energy Vault secures investment of 20 million dollars

The US problem-solving organization Helena will be using its comprehensive global network of highly qualified experts to support the market launch of the innovative gravitational energy storage system developed by Energy Vault. For this, the two partners have entered into a strategic partnership. In addition, Helena has invested a sum of 20 million US dollars in Energy Vault via Helena Special Investments, which is the organization’s profit-oriented arm.

“Our job at Helena is to identify and implement solutions to the critical global problems of the next 50 years”, comments Henry Elkus, founder and CEO of Helena, in a press release issued by Energy Vault. “We believe Energy Vault will play a fundamental role in furthering that transition”, he adds. Robert Piconi, CEO and co-founder of Energy Vault, is convinced that the partners’ continued collaboration will help the world “to take a vital step towards combating the negative impacts of climate change”.

As the press release explains further, this cooperation will be focused on accelerating the use of Energy Vault’s technology at energy providers. In particular, new opportunities in connection with the use of materials for the main energy storage medium – the composite blocks, each weighing 35 tonnes – are to be explored. They are intended to avoid the use of environmentally harmful substances such as concrete and to enable a “transition to a fully circular economic approach”.

Energy Vault highlights the fact that it entered into a partnership with the Italian company Enel Green Power at the start of July for precisely this purpose. The partnership will aim to combine Energy Vault's storage technology with the recycling of materials that are no longer needed in wind turbines. For this, disused rotor blades are to be shredded before being processed into the blocks used in Energy Vault’s gravitational energy storage system.

Helena is supporting Energy Vault’s efforts that aim to eliminate waste, as Elkus explains: “The company’s ability to use massive quantities of waste material to construct its systems only makes the impact more real and the business case more viable”. This will additionally offer energy providers the opportunity to recycle legacy assets.