The Energy Vault Commercial Demonstration Unit (CDU) combines innovative design, advanced materials science, and proprietary machine-vision software to lift and lower composite bricks and orchestrate the storage and dispatch of electrical power. In July of 2020, Energy Vault completed mechanical construction of the first of its kind, grid-scale CDU located in Switzerland (Ticino). This commercial scale system is part of Energy Vault’s technology roadmap that follows the 1:4 scale pilot system built and operated in 2018, where all core technology elements were tested and validated. The CDU is connected to the Swiss national utility grid and is being utilized for continued testing and software commissioning.
CDU PHOTO GALLERYA breakthrough in gravity and kinetic based energy storage, the Energy Vault’s CDU tower stores energy by lifting mobile masses into a tower where potential energy is stored in the elevation gain. The mobile masses are then returned to the ground and the kinetic energy generated from the controlled decline of the weight is turned back into electricity and dispatched to the grid.
Designed to be modular, flexible with plant capacity ranges of 20-35-80 MWh storage capacity and a 4-8MW of continuous power discharge for 8-16 hours.
Uniquely capable of utilizing waste materials to manufacture mobile masses, creating circular economic value and generating incremental revenue.
Proprietary system design with specially engineered control software ensures the bricks are placed in exactly the right location each time.
Applying conventional physics fundamentals of gravity and potential energy, the system combines an innovative crane design that lifts specially designed, massive composite bricks with a proprietary, cloud-based software platform that orchestrates the storage and discharge of electricity.
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