Berkshire Hathaway-owned NV Energy has been revealed as the ‘large western utility’ that has ordered a 220MW/440MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) from Energy Vault.
Energy Vault will deliver the grid-connected BESS at a site near Las Vegas, Nevada, which will primarily provide load shifting services from peak production hours to peak demand hours. Construction will start in the second quarter of 2023 with completion expected by year-end.
The company, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year and is known for its EVx gravity-based solution, announced the project discussions a few months ago. It then said in November that it was in the final stages of contract execution.
Marco Terruzzin, chief commercial and product officer, Energy Vault said: “This is Energy Vault’s first public utility customer for our short duration energy storage solutions, which furthers our strategy to be the energy storage company of choice for utilities, IPPs (independent power producers) and large energy users.”
Nevada-focused NV Energy is part of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, part of Warren Buffett’s investment firm and a majority owner of several US power generation firms and utilities. It is the main offtaker for the Gemini solar-plus-storage project, one of the largest being developed anywhere in the world.
Energy Vault has recently been making moves into the short duration BESS segment alongside the long duration gravity-based energy storage solution it is known for. It now has a portfolio of contracted and awarded projects of 4.8GWh, equally distributed between the two segments.
It has also recently expanded into the European BESS market and even green hydrogen, as reported by Energy-Storage.news last month, and is building its first commercial gravity-based solution outside China, for Enel Green Power in Texas.
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