Energy Vault, Inc.

An energy management system and methods of using the same are disclosed. The energy management system is configured to distribute power plant tasks. Energy management system tasks are received at the energy management system. At least a portion of the received tasks are passed over a network from the energy management system to a power plant lead controller in a cluster of nodes, the cluster of nodes comprising electronic devices configured to control power plant equipment, the cluster of nodes comprising the power plant lead controller and a plurality of power plant follower controllers, the cluster of nodes configured to provide a plurality of combinations of redundancy to control power plant equipment. The power plant lead controller delegates, in real time, tasks to the plurality of power plant follower controllers. At least one of the cluster of nodes is configurable to be in hot standby mode.

A system for making blocks for gravity energy storage includes an extrusion press machine with a receiving chamber for receiving raw material, a compaction chamber and a pressing wall driven by a piston to push the raw material into the compaction chamber to compact the material to form a block. One or more of a top wall, opposite side walls and the pressing wall are moved away from the a center of the compaction chamber to allow the block to elastically expand prior to exiting the compaction chamber.

An energy storage and delivery system includes a crane having a frame that supports an electric motor and a winch and a plurality of pipes arranged proximate the crane and a well opening. The system is operable to lower one or more pipes down the well to generate an amount of electricity or to raise one or more pipes from the well to store an amount of electricity as potential energy of the pipe at a higher elevation outside the well relative to the bottom of the well.

An energy storage tower can include an upper floor section with one or more floors. A pump, a turbine, a turbine-pump, or a plurality of turbine pumps on, below or proximate the ground can be hydraulically connected with each of the floors in the upper floor section. To store energy, water can be pumped from a lower elevation, to one or more of the floors in the upper floor section via one or more pipes, and one or more valves can be selectively closed to store the water. To generate electricity, one of more of the valves can be selectively opened to allow water to flow from the upper floor section to the lower elevation under force of gravity. The water can flow past and rotate a turbine or turbine pump to generate electricity via a generator electrically connected to the turbine or turbine pump.

A liquid storage tank with a storage unit has a flexible wall assembled from liquid-impermeable, flexible membrane sections. Due to their dimensions, these membrane sections give the liquid storage tank a predetermined operational shape when filled with the target amount of liquid. In the vertical operational position, this predetermined operational shape is drop-shaped, featuring an upper tip and a lower, bulged bottom area, where the tip is equipped with a supporting suspension for the storage unit, and a first liquid connection is provided in the bottom area. A method for manufacturing the liquid storage tank includes iterative calculations for the predetermined operational shape.

A system for generating electricity from an underwater stream for generating electricity for the electric grid or for producing hydrogen includes an underwater turbine. The underwater turbine includes an upper pontoon, a lower pontoon, and a pylon structure that extends between and interconnects the upper pontoon and the lower pontoon. The underwater turbine also includes a single propeller assembly rotatably coupled to the lower pontoon. Rotation of the propeller operates a generator to generate electricity. The underwater turbine can be moored to a sea floor via a mooring weight. An optional friction winch is operable to raise or lower the underwater turbine relative to the sea floor.

An energy storage tower can include an upper floor section with one or more floors. A pump, a turbine, a turbine-pump, or a plurality of turbine pumps on, below or proximate the ground can be hydraulically connected with each of the floors in the upper floor section. To store energy, water can be pumped from a lower elevation, to one or more of the floors in the upper floor section via one or more pipes, and one or more valves can be selectively closed to store the water. To generate electricity, one of more of the valves can be selectively opened to allow water to flow from the upper floor section to the lower elevation under force of gravity. The water can flow past and rotate a turbine or turbine pump to generate electricity via a generator electrically connected to the turbine or turbine pump.

An energy storage and delivery system includes an elevator cage assembly operable to move blocks from a lower elevation to a higher elevation of a frame to store energy and operable to move blocks from the higher elevation to the lower elevation of the frame (e.g., by gravity) to generate electricity. The elevator cage assembly is operable to center the block relative to an elevator cage of the elevator cage assembly. The system includes a trolley on top of the frame that is operatively coupled to the elevator cage assembly by one or more cables. The trolley is operable to move to an extended position to lift the elevator cage assembly to lift a block off a row and to move to a compact position to lower the elevator cage assembly to lower a block onto a row.

An energy storage and delivery system includes an elevator cage, where the elevator cage is operable to move one or more blocks from a lower elevation to a higher elevation to store energy (e.g., via the potential energy of the block in the higher elevation) and operable to move one or more blocks from the higher elevation to the lower elevation (e.g., by gravity) to generate electricity (e.g., via the kinetic energy of the block when moved to the lower elevation). The blocks are moved between the lower elevation and the higher elevation by an equal vertical distance.

An energy management system and methods of using the same are disclosed. The energy management system is configured to deploy a first instantiation of a first hardware driver at a first electronic control device collocated with a first power plant apparatus, wherein the first hardware driver is configured to communicate with and enable control of the first power plant apparatus. The energy management system is configured to detect that the first instantiation of the first hardware driver at the first electronic control device has failed, and at least partly in response to detecting that the first instantiation of the first hardware driver at the first electronic control device has failed, utilize a second instantiation of the first hardware driver, stored in memory remote from the first electronic control device, to enable control of the first power plant apparatus.