Tokyo (SCCIJ) – The young Swiss company Energy Vault has developed and built the first commercial battery storage system for electricity based on gravity. Such systems are helping wind and solar plants to reach their full potential.
Energy Vault from Switzerland built the world's first commercial Gravity Energy Storage System in Rudong near Shanghai (© Energy Vault).
Moving blocks up and down
It is an extraordinary energy storage facility recently completed in the Rudong district of Shanghai, China. Built by the Ticino-based company Energy Vault, the impressive building, some 120 meters high, houses hundreds of concrete blocks that are moved up and down by lifts. Special AI-powered software controls the block movement.
Instead of chemicals like a conventional battery, the building uses gravity to store energy. Experts see such a technology as a potential game changer for clean energy systems. The basic idea is to use “green” electricity to lift heavy blocks when solar or wind energy plants are producing a surplus. The lifted blocks are storing this energy in principle forever and without loss.
This is how it works: The blocks, each weighing 24 tons and measuring around 12 cubic meters, are moved upwards in the building, which is over 100 meters high. When energy is needed, the blocks are released and begin a controlled fall. Their stored gravitational energy is released as kinetic energy which drives generators to produce electricity. One option is to automatically lower a large number of the blocks in the evening to provide electricity for the night when solar plants do not produce any energy.
AI calculates energy needs
The blocks are moved around the building using AI-controlled software. In addition to automate the system operation, the aim is to ensure that the power requirements can be accurately calculated and executed. According to Energy Vault, the blocks are made from local materials such as soil, sand, waste, or recycled materials, for example shredded wind turbine blades or coal seams from fossil fuel production.
Several projects are underway in China and the US, totaling 915 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy storage. The company’s first commercial grid-scale project using its proprietary gravity energy storage technology in Rudong, near Shanghai, was connected to the grid in December 2023 and can store up to 100 MWh. In other words, this is enough electricity to power nine homes for a whole year just from stored energy.
The research and development of the gravity energy storage system have been based in Ticino and operational since 2019 with its R&D center. The commercial demonstration unit has been connected to the Swiss national utility grid and used for two years of testing and software commissioning.
Text: Swiss.Tech (Editing by SCCIJ)
