Last summer, we announced that the Rudong EVx gravitational energy project had entered its initial commissioning phase. Today, this process is finally completed and the battery Energy Vault now operates in a grid-connected environment in the suburbs of Shanghai.
The EVx system, of capacity of 25 MW/100 MWh, was installed near a wind farm and a connection point to the national grid in China. It aims to improve and stabilize the national grid by storing and distributing renewable energy.
Commissioning of the system began in June 2023 and it will be fully integrated into the network in December 2023. It thus became the first commercial system large-scale gravity energy storage without pumping.
Additionally, construction of three new grid-scale EVx gravity energy storage system facilities has begun in China. Energy Vault partners China Tianying (CNTY) and Atlas Renewable now have a total of nine such installations in the country, with combined capacity of 3.7 GWh.
How the Gravitational Energy Battery Works
Gravity energy storage systems are technologies that use the force of gravity to store and release energy in the form of electricity.
To do this, they rely on a heavy lifting system to store gravitational potential energy. Then, by dropping them, this energy is converted into kinetic energy, which is transformed into electricity.
These systems are useful for manage electricity supply and demand, especially in the case of intermittent production of renewable energy such as wind power and solar power. They use concrete blocks or water stored high up to store and release energy.
Gravity batteries offer advantages such as ability to store large amounts of energy for long periods and a long life without degradation.
However, their construction requires a lot of space and their effectiveness may be limited depending on the height and lifting operations.
Despite these difficulties, they are considered a promising option for large-scale energy storage, which could improve the efficiency and reliability of renewable energy systems and promote a more sustainable and resilient electricity grid.
Thanks to viable projects such as the Rudong EVx, this type of renewable energy storage is no longer just a promising project, but an operational reality.