PASADENA, Calif. & LUGANO, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Energy Vault, an Idealab company that creates renewable energy storage products, today announced the commercial availability of its groundbreaking solution. Based on the principles that underpin traditional gravity-based pumped hydro plants, the new technology combines conventional physics fundamentals of potential and kinetic energy with a proprietary, cloud-based software platform to operate a newly developed six-arm crane. The crane operation is fully automated and orchestrates the positioning of the massive concrete bricks that provide the basis for the efficient storage and discharge of electricity. The innovative use of low cost and environmentally-friendly waste debris concrete materials enables the Energy Vault system to achieve significantly lower cost per kilowatt-hour and high round trip efficiency while delivering a 30-40 year life without any degradation in storage capacity. The company also announced an agreement with The Tata Power Company Limited, India’s largest integrated power company, to deploy an initial 35 MWh Energy Vault system with deployment expected in 2019. In addition, the company 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.

Renewables have struggled to more fully 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’s breakthrough technology was inspired by pumped hydro plants that rely on the power of gravity and the movement of water to store and discharge electricity. The company’s solution is based on the same well-understood fundamentals used in those plants, but replaces the water with custom made concrete bricks through an extremely innovative use of low-cost materials. The large bricks are combined with Energy Vault’s patented system design and proprietary algorithm-based software, which calibrates the energy storage and subsequent electricity discharge while accounting for a variety of factors, including power supply, energy demand volatility, and weather. As a result, the company can deliver all the benefits of a pumped hydro system, but at a much lower price, higher roundtrip efficiency and without the requirement for specific land topography and negative environmental or wildlife impacts.

The system specifications and attributes include:

35 MWh nominal energy capacity and 4 MW peak power; can be modulated as required

Millisecond response ramp time with 100 percent full power achieved in 2.9 seconds, supporting critical Ancillary Services (spinning reserve, frequency response, black start, etc.)

Roundtrip efficiency of ~90 percent; zero storage degradation over time with no energy loss; >30-year lifetime with unlimited cycles

Disruptive economics – ~50 percent below existing solutions on a capex $/kWh basis, ~80 percent lower when factoring in system life, operating, maintenance and replacement cost on a levelized cost of storage (LCOS) basis

Environmental sustainability of all materials through the product lifetime with utilization of debris materials that would otherwise be required to be land-filled

Further bolstering its eco-friendly advantages over existing chemical storage solutions is the fact that Energy Vault’s storage conduit – the large concrete bricks – do not degrade over time and therefore eliminates the need for replacement equipment. Future systems will roughly double the amount of MWh energy storage capacity and peak power discharge while continuing to significantly reduce the cost.

Platform flexibility is one of the most critical investment criteria for energy providers, and the Energy Vault system was developed to be suitable for both “in front of the meter” and “behind the meter” applications. It can also be paired with renewable generation like solar PV for offgrid and microgrid solutions, allowing commercial and industrial customers to maximize their renewable power usage and delivering on the promise of reliable 24 hour a day power to remote towns and villages in emerging markets.

“The world needs rapidly scalable and sustainable energy storage solutions to meet one of the most urgent challenges – the need to decarbonize our energy generation – and we’re thrilled to launch Energy Vault’s unique technology to help solve this problem,” said Robert Piconi, chief executive officer and co-founder, Energy Vault. “In addition to the vital environmental benefits that it provides, the system’s radical reduction in $kWh and overall levelized cost of storage enables our customers to provide dispatchable and baseload power cheaper than fossil fuels for the very first time. We’re also excited to begin our important collaboration with CEMEX whose innovation in material composite technologies and global footprint will help accelerate achieving our collective sustainability goals.”

Energy Vault’s new technology collaboration and development agreement with CEMEX Research Group AG (Switzerland) will enable joint technology teams to focus on material applications which include the optimization of various concrete and soil composite materials that form an integral part of Energy Vault’s storage solution. The collaboration also includes a focus on carbon and CO 2 reduction methodologies given the role that utility-scale energy storage will now play in enabling various renewable energy technologies.

“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 Dr. 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.”

“Innovation in energy storage represents the largest and most near term opportunity to accelerate renewable deployments and bring us closer to replacing fossil fuels as the primary source to meet the world’s continual growth in energy demand,” said Bill Gross, co-founder, Energy Vault, and founder, Idealab. “We’re excited to support Energy Vault in bringing this groundbreaking technology to the market.”

As part of its efforts to rapidly bring projects to market, Energy Vault has initial agreements with customers on multiple continents.

The announcement is being made at the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference at which Bill Gross will deliver a keynote address later today.

About Energy Vault

Energy Vault, an Idealab portfolio company, is a creator of renewable energy storage products that are revolutionizing the approach to long duration, utility scale energy storage. Applying conventional physics fundamentals of gravity and potential energy, the system 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. Utilizing 100 percent eco-friendly materials at unmatched cost levels, Energy Vault is accelerating the transformation to a fully renewable world.

For more information about Energy Vault, please visit energyvault.ch

About CEMEX

CEMEX is a global building materials company that provides high-quality products and reliable services to customers and communities in more than 50 countries. CEMEX has a rich history of improving the well-being of those it serves through innovative building solutions, efficiency advancements, and efforts to promote a sustainable future. For more information, please visit: www.cemex.com

About Tata Power

Tata Power is India’s largest integrated power company and, together with its subsidiaries & jointly controlled entities, has an installed capacity of 10857 MW. A pioneer in the field, it has a presence across the entire power value chain: Generation of renewable as well as conventional power including hydro and thermal energy; transmission & distribution, trading and coal & freight logistics. With renewable energy assets in solar and wind accounting for 22% of the company's portfolio, Tata Power is a leader in clean energy generation. In line with the company's view on sustainable and clean energy development, Tata Power is steering the transformation of utilities to integrated solutions by looking at new business growth in EV charging & storage, distributed generation & rooftops, microgrids and home automation & smart meters.

It has successful public-private partnerships in generation, transmission & distribution in India namely: ‘Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd.’ with Delhi Vidyut Board for distribution in North Delhi; 'Tata Power Ajmer Distribution Ltd.' with Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. for distribution in Ajmer; 'Powerlinks Transmission Ltd.' with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. for evacuation of Power from Tala hydro plant in Bhutan to Delhi; 'Maithon Power Ltd.' with Damodar Valley Corporation for a 1050 MW Mega Power Project at Jharkhand. Tata Power is serving more than 2.6 million distribution consumers in India and has developed the country’s first 4000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project at Mundra (Gujarat) based on super-critical technology.

With growing international focus, Tata Power's global presence includes strategic investments in Indonesia through a 30% stake in the coal company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC); 26% stake in mines at PT Baramulti Suksessarana Tbk (BSSR); in Singapore through Trust Energy Resources; in South Africa through a joint venture called ‘Cennergi’ to develop projects in sub-Sahara Africa; in Zambia through a 50:50 joint venture with ZESCO for 120 MW Hydro project; in Georgia through AGL which is a joint venture with Clean Energy, Norway & IFC for development of 187 MW hydro project; in Bhutan through a hydro project in partnership with The Royal Government of Bhutan.

With its 103 years track record of technology leadership, project execution excellence, world-class safety processes, customer care and driving green initiatives, Tata Power is poised for multi-fold growth and committed to 'lighting up lives' for generations to come. Visit us at: www.tatapower.com