A well-connected U.S. firm is using China as a proving ground for its technology that aims to store renewable energy.
In early November, Energy Vault, a California-based energy storage firm, announced an expansion in China with five new projects deploying the company’s improbable technology: lifting 50,000 pound blocks high in the air to store energy.
That system, a type of what’s called ‘gravity storage,’ is one of many nascent technologies seeking to remedy renewable power’s big drawback: its intermittency. As more wind and solar power is used to power the grid, there is an increasing need global
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Bob Fu's relationship with China has gone through phases. First, he thought money would solve his problems there; then he joined protesters at Tiananmen Square, thinking the politics could change. In the end, he determined, only God could save China, and he's been fighting for religious freedom in China ever since he resettled in Texas. With his nonprofit, ChinaAid, prospering like never before, he says the U.S. is finally catching on.
A podcast about how the two nations, once friends, are now foes.
Hear why things are so complicated now. Host Jane Perlez, former New York Times Beijing bureau chief, talks with diplomats, spies, cultural superstars like Yo Yo Ma, and more to understand why the dangers are so high, and why relations went awry.