Highlights
- Collaboration includes strategic investment from BHP Ventures closed as part of prior Series C funding
- Joint MOU executed to explore applications for Energy Vault's proprietary energy storage and software technology to support electrification in BHP's large-scale mining operations
Energy Vault, Inc. ("Energy Vault"), the company developing sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, and BHP, a leading global natural resources company, today (Dec 15) announced a joint collaboration that will focus on the deployment and implementation of Energy Vault's energy storage solutions in BHP's key operations and other potential applications for the technology. BHP Ventures, BHP's internal venture capital unit, also joined other investors in a final close of Energy Vault's Series C funding round announced earlier this year.
The parties have signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") focused on studying the application of Energy Vault's technology to support power supply and energy storage at certain BHP operations while exploring opportunities for new applications relevant to BHP's business. The companies will also assess local supply chain collaboration, eco-brick composite manufacturing (including the potential for beneficial re-use of mine tailings or waste), and joint maintenance and monitoring support centers. This represents an opportunity to facilitate Energy Vault's further geographic expansion into the Australian and other global markets where BHP has operations starting in 2022.
"We are excited to deepen our relationship with BHP to support one of the world's largest companies and a global leader in natural resources production to explore applications for our technology in the electrificaiton of their mining operations," said Robert Piconi, Co-Founder and CEO of Energy Vault. "Our company's mission is to accelerate the clean energy transition to make sustainable, decarbonized energy a reality. This MOU demonstrates the strong momentum and demand that we continue to experience for our advanced energy storage technology across multiple industry segments and the most critical energy storage applications."
Mark Frayman, Head of BHP Ventures, said: "Broad collaboration and the development of new technologies will be fundamental to achieving decarbonization across the global resources industry. We are excited to partner with Energy Vault, following our strategic investment in the company earlier this year. Energy Vault's technology has the potential to unlock cleaner energy solutions for our operations and create a competitive edge by helping to accelerate our decarbonization initiatives. This partnership may also present an opportunity to improve life-cycle sustainability by using eco-bricks made with mine tailings, and to create new opportunities for local suppliers."
Energy Vault's advanced gravity energy storage solutions are based on the proven physics and mechanical engineering fundamentals of pumped hydroelectric energy storage, but replace water with custom-made composite blocks which do not lose storage capacity over time. The blocks can be made from low-cost and locally sourced materials, including the excavated soil at the construction site, but can also utilize locally available waste materials such as mine tailings, coal combustion residuals (coal ash), and fiberglass from decommissioned wind turbine blades.
Additionally, the Energy Vault systems are intended to minimize environmental and supply chain risks. The systems are automated with advanced computer control and machine vision software that orchestrate the charging and discharging cycles while meeting a broad set of storage durations starting from 2 hours and continuing to 12 hours or more.
About Energy Vault
Energy Vault develops sustainable energy storage solutions designed to transform the world's approach to utility-scale energy storage for grid resiliency. Our proprietary gravity-based Energy Storage Technology and the Energy Storage Management and Integration Platform are intended to help utilities, independent power producers and large industrial energy users significantly reduce their levelized cost of energy while maintaining power reliability. Utilizing eco-friendly materials with the ability to integrate waste materials for beneficial re-use, Energy Vault is facilitating the shift to a circular economy while accelerating the clean energy transition for its customers.
Energy Vault previously announced an agreement for a business combination with Novus Capital Corporation II (NYSE: NXU, NXU.U, NXU WS), which is expected to result in Energy Vault becoming a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
About BHP
BHP is a world-leading resources company that produces iron ore, copper, nickel, metallurgical coal and petroleum for sale to global markets. BHP has approximately 80,000 employees and contractors, primarily in Australia and the Americas. BHP's global headquarters are in Melbourne, Australia.
About Novus Capital Corporation II
Novus raised approximately $287.5 million in its February 2021 IPO and its securities are listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbols "NYSE: NXU, NXU.U, NXU WS." Novus is a special purpose acquisition company organized for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization, or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. Novus Capital is led by Robert J. Laikin, Jeff Foster, Hersch Klaff, Larry Paulson, Heather Goodman, Ron Sznaider and Vince Donargo, who have significant hands-on experience helping high-tech companies optimize their existing and new growth initiatives by exploiting insights from rich data assets and intellectual property that already exist within most high-tech companies.
