Energy Vault buys up 300 MWh battery in Texas, projects $350 million in total revenue

Energy Vault has made its first acquisition of a grid-scale battery project under its own investment platform, with a subsidiary called Asset Vault buying up a 150 MW/300 MWh BESS called the SOSA Energy Center (SOSA), located in Madison County, Texas, which will connect to the ERCOT North market.

The project will use Energy Vault’s B-VAULT product, now in its third generation. SOSA was originally developed by US-based solar and energy storage developer Savion, a subsidiary of oil major Royal Dutch Shell. Shell bought Savion in 2021.

Energy Vault said the project is expected to receive Notice to Proceed (NTP) in Q4 2025, or within just two months, and following construction and build, which is also planned for Q4 2025, commercial operation will be expected in Q1 2027. The project has elements of a ready-to-build acquisition, with the path to construction mostly cleared with a reported fully secured site control, clean title, and completed environmental and interconnection milestones.

A timely decision on the NTP will be key: Energy Vault also said it will safe harbor the asset with construction beginning on-site in Q4 2025, meaning it will aim to qualify the project for tax incentives under U.S. federal law by completing “significant” work or incurring at least 5% of total project.

Providing details of revenues, Energy Vault said it is in “advanced negotiations” with a counterparty for an eight-year offtake agreement, noting that the structure will be underwritten, and that the project is expected to deliver $17–20 million in annual revenues over the technical life of the project, or “$350 million in total.”

Asset Vault is backed by a $300 million preferred equity investment by Orion Infrastructure Capital (OIC), along with the “monetization of Federal Investment Tax Credit-related funds,” and is said to be dedicated to developing, building, owning and operating energy storage assets globally.

Robert Piconi, Chairman and CEO of Energy Vault, said, “The SOSA BESS is a strong addition to Energy Vault’s growing global portfolio of energy storage deployments, with top quartile project performance attributes consistent with all project acquisitions and development under the Asset Vault platform.”

Under Asset Vault, the company acquired the 125 MW / 1 GWh Stoney Creek BESS in Australia in August, and operates the 57 MW/114 MWh Cross Trails BESS as well as the 8.5 MW/293 MWh Calistoga Resiliency Center.