Underneath a brand new 10-year settlement, Gravity Power Storage Options (GESSOL) has secured the rights to deploy Power Vault’s gravity vitality storage tech all through the 16 nations of the Southern African Growth Neighborhood area. Power Vault CEO Robert Piconi says the deployments will clean out load shedding and optimize grid efficiency.
Gravity storage system provider Power Vault has signed a licensing and royalty settlement with GESSOL, which is anticipated to facilitate multi-gigawatt hours of long-duration storage within the Southern African Growth Neighborhood (SADC) area.
GESSOL is a consortium centered on vitality storage deployments in southern Africa that features challenge engineering group iX Engineers, renewable vitality specialist Sizana Options, and development contractor WBHO. Underneath the phrases of the 10-year settlement, the group has the unique rights to deploy Power Vault’s gravity storage expertise all through the SADC area.
This consists of Switzerland-based Power Vault’s gravity vitality storage system (GESS) and VaultOS vitality administration system, in addition to its short-duration battery and ultra-long-duration inexperienced hydrogen hybrid programs.
The settlement, which was executed within the ultimate quarter of 2023, will serve vitality storage use circumstances inside the public utility, mining, IPP/micro-grid and broader industrial sectors.
The work is anticipated to contribute to the SADC area’s vitality storage wants, that are estimated to surpass 125 GWh by 2035, and speed up the world’s clear vitality transition.
Based on the SADC, an electrical energy scarcity has strained the area since 2007. Solely 50% of residents have entry to electrical energy, a determine which falls to 32% in rural areas. In the meantime, coal presently provides 62% of energy era in southern Africa.
“We performed intensive due diligence to carry probably the most economical, environment friendly, versatile and sustainable lengthy period vitality storage resolution to the SADC area and Power Vault’s gravity storage expertise is the clear selection,” stated GESSOL Director Les Lange.
Lange famous that southern Africa is a quickly creating area with growing vitality demand, which traditionally has been met with coal-fired crops.
“Financial growth within the SADC area is crucial for bettering high quality of life, however we have to quickly wean the area off of coal to concurrently cut back carbon emissions and develop our economic system,” he stated.
It’s hoped the deployment may also assist resolve grid points which have plagued South Africa, with 2023 the worst 12 months on document for frequent scheduled energy cuts within the nation, often known as load shedding. In November, the nation’s public utility Eskom switched on its largest battery storage challenge up to now to mitigate the problem of load shedding, as a part of a wider battery storage rollout.
Robert Piconi, Power Vault’s chairman and CEO, stated the speedy scale-up of the corporate’s product line within the SADC area will “improve renewable vitality capability, clean out load shedding, optimise grid efficiency by our software program functions and supply a vital complement to intermittent renewable era to agency grid resiliency.”
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