Startup using cement blocks for energy storage gets a massive 1.6 gigawatt deal

Energy Vault, the startup company that uses big honkin bricks (a technical term) to store energy, has announced its first massive contract.

Set to go public later this year, the startup has inked a deal with DG Fuels, a business that’s already in line for billions in federal loan guarantees to make sustainable aviation and diesel fuels from plant waste and hydrogen.

The deal will see Energy Vault provide 1.6 gigawatt hours of energy storage to support DG Fuels’ projects across a number of geographies. The first is a 500 megawatt hour storage project in Louisiana with additional sites slated for Ohio and British Columbia in Canada.

Using Energy Vault’s gravity storage systems, DG Fuels is hoping to power its hydrogen production with 100% renewables from solar power and the storage tech.

The renewable power will be used to power HydrogenPro water electrolysis for both hydrogen and oxygen feedstock production, the company said.

The process Energy Vault uses to store power is much the same as the pumped hydropower storage facilities that comprise much of the long duration energy storage currently available in the U.S.

Energy Vault replaces water with custom-made composite blocks. These composite blocks are made from materials like soil at a construction site, or other waste materials like mine tailings, coal combustion residuals (coal ash), and fiberglass from decommissioned wind turbine blades, the company said.

Energy Vault’s storage system can provide storage durations of anywhere from 2 hours to 12 hours or more, the company said.

These initial projects will provide up to $520 million in much needed revenue as the company looks to make its debut on public markets.

“We are proud to collaborate with DG Fuels and its partners to economically enable 24/7 renewable power, supporting DG Fuels to execute against their plans to efficiently deliver green fuel to the aviation industry,” said Robert Piconi, CEO and Co-Founder of Energy Vault, in a statement. “Our energy storage systems are designed to maximize the use of local materials and stimulate local job creation, thus amplifying the sustainability benefits of DG Fuels’ deployment plans. These projects will play a critical role in reducing our reliance on fossil-based fuels while further advancing our country’s decarbonization goals.”