Fast Company – May 2019

3

4

1. Lifting Bricks
   When a solar farm
   produces extra
   energy during the
   day, the Energy Vault
   system uses that
   power to run motors
   that lift the huge
   bricks and stack them
   on top of a tower,
   storing energy
   through the elevation
   gain. The design
   is modular, but a typi-
   cal tower is roughly
   the height of a
   30-story building.


2. Energy Release
   When the grid needs
   power—say, in the
   evening—software
   directs arms on the

crane to lower the

bricks, spinning

generators to create

electricity. The energy

then flows into the

grid. An average-size

system can serve

around 3,400 homes

each day. When

demand is low, the

software automati-

cally adjusts to

discharge less energy.

3. Recycled Parts
   Each 35-metric-ton
   brick can be made
   from concrete debris
   that would normally
   end up in a landfill.
   At a coal plant shifting
   to renewable power,
   the bricks could be
   made from coal ash.
   Energy Vault can
   also use a new pro-
   cess to make bricks
   from dirt on-site.
   4. Quick Setup
   Unlike a battery
   factory, which can
   cost more than
   $1 billion and take
   years to build, each
   tower can be con-
   structed quickly.
   Standard cranes arrive
   from manufacturers
   within a few months
   and require only two
   or three weeks to set
   up. The bricks can
   also be produced
   quickly. “A big benefit
   of our solution is the
   scalability,” Piconi says.
   In the first few months
   after the company
   launched, in Novem-
   ber 2018, it was in talks
   with prospective cus-
   tomers about 1,200
   potential towers.

W

C

I

63

CONCRETE

DEBRIS

COAL

ASH

ON-SITE

DIRT

WO

RL

D-

CH

AN

GI

NG

(^) I
DE
AS