Feb 7th, 2022 – Washington DC and Beijing
On Feb. 1st in Beijing and 7th in Washington, DC respectively: Energy Vault, Atlas Renewable and China Tianying (CNTY), a China Fortune 500 public environmental company, announced a project total of $100 Million: Investment, Licensing and Royalty Agreement, to construct the first of its kind commercial gravity energy storage facility in China. This global innovation facility, demonstrating 100 MWh of storage capacity will be located in the City of Rudong, Jiangsu Province near Shanghai to accelerate China’s commitment to Carbon Peak in 2030 and Carbon Neutrality in 2060. This commercial undertaking is solid evidence of how businesses can work together to produce innovative solutions to meeting the global crisis of Climate Change. The greatest challenges of climate change call upon all nations and their people to participate to the best of their abilities in seeking solutions and working together to share what works.
The National Center for Sustainable Development (NCSD) and its operational affiliate Sinoaccess are proud to take part in this historical process to facilitate a successful outcome. NCSD and Sinoaccess have worked collaboratively for the last twenty plus years with global business partners, NGO’s and private sector American firms to raise awareness of progressively more destructive impacts of climate change. NCSD and Sinoaccess have endeavored to find out what strategies and technologies work that can be broadly applied at a societal level.
In 2011, NCSD, for example, was the only foreign group to assist CCTV, the Ministry of Finance and NDRC in producing the epic 13 part “Warm and Cold: We Share Together”, a climate change documentary series presented at Doha Climate Change Conference in 2012 by then President Huo Jintao. In 2009 were we asked to participate with the China CDM fund and the Ministry of Finance to help identify US climate policies that China might use to help shape its policies.
NCSD’s efforts were small in comparison, early on, but have resulted in the private sector announcement we share today. Working with the EIPC (Energy Investment Professional Committee) under the Investment Association of China, an NGO business association, NCSD was able to help promote the message that “without energy storage, renewable energy production will always lag behind in full potential to achieve a low carbon future. Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality are wise goals and will, with Energy Vault, enable renewables to play a pivotal role in doing their part to achieve these critical global objectives.
Energy Vault is the “missing link in China’s circular economy: Without an effective base of storage, electric power generated (from any source) will lose approximately 6 % in transmission to end users. That “lost” energy represents the key element giving China and all nations the resource needs to balance the electric grid, and in a larger sense complete the supply chain of power from producer to consumer.”
We at NCSD believe that Energy Vault has another unrecognized value for the world: sustainable economic development. President Xi has often spoken of his goal of a “modestly prosperous future” for China’s people. Far too many millions in China live in remote areas where the electric grid cannot reach: they generate electricity from big diesel generators. With a scaled down and energy vault modular system each producing several megawatts, perhaps, China’s rural landscape can begin a true transformation in the lives of millions. The world is truly fortunate to have Energy Vault: a technology brilliant in its design and far reaching in its benefits for people and the planet.
About NCSD – National Center for Sustainable Development, Washington, DC
NCSD is a national 501 c 3 nonprofit corporation established in 2001 and dedicated to building sustainable prosperity within the context of low carbon economic development. NCSD was founded 20 years ago and pursues its NGO mandate and mission by aiding in the creation of demonstration projects where appropriate technologies can “demonstrate” new solutions to persistent problems in the energy and environmental sectors. Much of the work of NCSD has been related to the Founder’s 35 years of experience in China and other developing countries with policies and programs related to Climate Change and Sustainability.
