1st floor of energy storage building

Which energy storage project is under construction in China?

Another Energy Vault gravity energy storage project under construction in Zhangye City, Gansu Province, China. Image: Business Wire. Energy Vault has connected its first commercial EVx gravity-based energy storage system to the grid in China, while construction has been launched on three others, all-in-all totalling 468MWh of capacity.

What is Energy Vault?

Energy Vault has begun commissioning a 25 MW / 100 MWh energy storage tower adjacent to a wind power facility outside of Shanghai. The EVx energy storage tower lifts composite blocks with electric motors. There are many ways to store energy, from electrochemical batteries, to pumped hydro, to iron-air batteries, to flywheels, and more.

What is gravity energy storage (GESS)?

The Switzerland and California-based company announced that it is entering the first phases of commissioning for its first commercial-scale gravity energy storage system (GESS). Slated to be fully grid-interconnected in Q4 2023, the gravity tower will mark the world’s first non-pumped hydro gravity-based storage facility.

How efficient is Energy Vault?

The Energy Vault system, called EVx, has demonstrated round-trip efficiency of about 75% in a demonstration project installed in 2020 in Switzerland. The company said it expects that to be improved to about 80%, placing it in a similar range as pumped hydro storage and even grid-scale batteries.