Novus Capital Acquires California Energy Storage Startup
Energy Vault's system involves raising and lowering composite blocks to store and release energy on demand. (photo courtesy of Energy Vault)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based Novus Capital Corp. II (NYSE: NXU) has announced plans to acquire California-based startup Energy Vault Inc. in a deal valued at more than $1 billion. Energy Vault, which creates renewable energy storage products, will become a publicly-traded company as a result of the acquisition.
Novus Capital Corp. II is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that launched its Initial Public Offering earlier this year and raised $250 million, according to our partners at the Indianapolis Business Journal. The company’s website says it is “focused on sustainability and social equity through technological innovation.”
Energy Vault has developed a gravity energy storage system, which uses custom-made composite blocks made with locally-sourced soil or waste material that are lifted and lowered to store and release energy on demand. Novus says the technology can recycle waste materials – such as coal combustion residuals and glass fibers from decommissioned wind turbine blades that would otherwise go to landfills – to be incorporated into the composite blocks.
Robert Laiken, chief executive officer of Novus, says Energy Vault has created a new energy storage system that will lower costs for utilities and power producers.
“Their unique approach to addressing the need for dispatchable power delivery through their creation of transformative technologies while reusing waste materials in their process, sets them apart from any other player in the market, and makes them an obvious choice as a partner,” Laiken said in a news release. “Since our IPO in early 2021, we looked at over 100 companies and we found a fantastic company, with a public company ready management team addressing a massive global market need that is underserved with existing solutions today. In our view, Energy Vault is the only grid-scale pure ESG energy storage company that exists in the market today.”
Energy Vault says it currently has several customer agreements in place and expects to begin generating revenue from its technology in 2022.
When the deal is complete, the combined company will be known as Energy Vault Holdings Inc. and is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols GWHR and GWHR WS. Robert Piconi, co-founder and CEO of Energy Vault, will serve as chairman and CEO of the combined company.
“We developed our energy storage solution to get to market quickly given the urgent and global imperative to accelerate the decarbonization of the energy sector. Through the deployment of our transformative technology, which can store clean energy for grid-scale deployments while uniquely utilizing waste materials for beneficial reuse in the process, Energy Vault is redefining the role that energy storage companies can and should play within a circular economic framework,” said Piconi. “As we focus now on the execution and deployment phase of the technology, we are thrilled to partner with the team at Novus who fully supports our mission of decarbonization and brings a deep experience set in new technology market development on a global scale.”
The acquisition has been approved by the boards of directors of both Novus and Energy Vault. The deal still requires approval from shareholders of both companies, as well as regulatory approval.
Novus expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2022. You can read more on the acquisition from the IBJ by clicking here.