Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NRGV) (“Energy Vault” or the “Company”), a leader in sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, today provided the following response to the recent short seller report issued by Bleecker Street Research who has a disclosed economic incentive to negatively influence the Company’s stock price. The report, issued on December 2, 2022, contains factual inaccuracies, mischaracterizations and misinformation. Key statements from the short report are addressed below:
Statement #1:
“440 MWh Deal With A Large Western Public Utility: We Think This Is Cancelled”
The 440MWh project with a large western utility announced by Energy Vault has not been cancelled and in fact Energy Vault intends to publicly announce the specifics of the project while naming the public utility in the coming days. The short seller’s error appears to stem from their confusion of megawatts (MW) with megawatt hours (MWh) – conflating units of demand and capacity with units of storage and demonstrating the short seller’s lack of familiarity with the energy storage industry. Confusing MW with MWh has led the short seller to make incorrect assumptions regarding Energy Vault’s awarded projects – conflating projects announced by third parties that reflect capacity (MW), including the project identified in the short report, with Energy Vault’s announcements of awarded projects for energy storage (MWh).
Statement #2:
“More Red Flags: 820MW System In Poland”
The project in Poland identified by the short seller is not the project previously disclosed by Energy Vault. The short seller is incorrect in both technical characterization and location of the project (as with the project referenced above) and Energy Vault has been awarded an 820MWh short duration battery storage project in an altogether different European country. Energy Vault intends to publicly announce the specifics of this project with our customer at the appropriate time. The short seller once again evidences their misunderstanding of the energy storage market by confusing MW with MWh.
Statement #3:
“2.2 GWh With DG Fuels: Half Of Energy Vault’s Backlog Is Riding On This Louisiana SAF Plant”
The short seller makes an incorrect assumption that DG Fuels makes up “half of Energy Vault’s backlog.” As per our latest 10-Q filed in November 2022, backlog is defined as the amount of revenue we expect to realize in the future on uncompleted construction contracts, including new contracts under which work has not yet begun. DG Fuels is categorized as an Award and as previously stated publicly, Energy Vault’s 2023 revenue forecast does not assume any project revenue from DG Fuels. In addition, the short seller incorrectly states that this is a “battery storage project” despite it clearly being a gravity energy storage project. The short seller also asserts that DG Fuels “is not a serious company.” However, both Delta Airlines and Air France-KLM have publicly announced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) offtake agreements with DG Fuels. DG Fuels has also recently announced the signing of a lease in Maine for one of its SAF facilities. Energy Vault’s EVx gravity energy storage technology will support DG Fuels’ production of green hydrogen for SAF.
Statement #4:
“Energy Vault Announces An Award From An Australian Solar Farm That Doesn’t Yet Exist”
The short seller’s argument about the Meadow Creek project attempts to create a controversy where none exists. The short seller implies that the October 2022 announcement does not disclose that project is in a developmental stage. However, the announcement clearly states: “The Meadow Creek Solar Farm has completed extensive work on project feasibility, including grid capacity, and is currently progressing through detailed environmental and technical assessments to support the development application process. The BESS, being co-located with solar PV, is expected provide the resiliency and flexibility of charge and discharge, essential to shoring up renewable energy supply across the network as Australia adopts the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan.”
Statement #5:
“Energy Vault Is Conspicuously Absent From All Major Department of Energy Renewable Projects”
The information provided by the Department of Energy’s list cited by the short report only relies on publicly available data and for competitive reasons, many projects under discussion or development with our customers are precluded from the list. It is worth noting that the short seller should have clearly understood with any minimal research and due diligence that the Department of Energy listing would typically name only the Project Owner and thus not list any of the project partners or suppliers that may be contracted by the Project Owner. Additionally, there may be lags between when we begin development and construction until the project is reflected in the database. Therefore, it should be expected that Energy Vault, and all of the other companies associated with the listed projects, would not be included in the report.
Additional Comments on Short Seller Report
In addition to the above statements and factual inaccuracies, many of the short seller’s claims and commentary focus on Energy Vault’s prior rotating crane technology from 2020 versus its current modular EVx technology, which is the only GESS platform being globally deployed today, highlighting the short seller’s failure to utilize the most current information in its “research” process. The report also confuses GESS projects with BESS deployments, further exposing a fundamental lack of understanding of Energy Vault’s business mix and energy storage more generally.
In addition, the short report questions the Company’s two-year aggregate revenue guidance as an “inflated claim.” During its November Q3 2022 earnings call, Energy Vault reiterated its aggregate revenue projections for 2022 and 2023 of approximately $680 million, as had been previously reiterated during the August Q2 2022 earnings call. The Company has clear line of sight to our guidance targets based on our contracted backlog and commercial pipeline.
Energy Vault stands by its project awards and we are excited to continue to partner with our world-class customers to decarbonize the world. The Company remains focused on executing its growth plan and looks forward to updating the market on its continued progress.
