Energy Vault Holdings (NRGV) shares surged 17.91% to $3.49 on Friday, then added another 0.29% in after-hours trading to $3.50. The rally came after the company announced a major commercial agreement covering 1.25 gigawatts of power infrastructure for hyperscaler AI data centers. The deal is Energy Vault's largest single contract and further expands the company beyond traditional energy storage systems.

Energy Vault Holdings, Inc., NRGV

Energy Vault Secures Major AI Power Agreement

Under the agreement, Energy Vault will provide battery energy storage systems, grid-forming power conversion technology, and infrastructure control software. The company will pair those systems with dispatchable power generation and turnkey engineering services for large computing campuses. Together, the partners aim to build an integrated platform designed to meet the demanding power requirements of AI data centers.

The agreement targets a pressing bottleneck for the AI infrastructure buildout. Hyperscale operators including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta have collectively committed to hundreds of billions of dollars in data center expansion, but many prime markets face multi-year waits for grid interconnection as transmission and substation capacity struggles to keep pace with load growth.

During the initial deployment phase, the systems are intended to operate independently from traditional utility connections. That arrangement could allow customers to bring computing capacity online faster than projects that must wait for grid interconnection. Energy Vault expects initial deployments to begin within the next four to twelve months.

The agreement also establishes a repeatable model that the companies can apply to future hyperscale developments. Each system will combine generation, storage, power conversion, electrical equipment, and digital controls in a single infrastructure package. The structure is aimed at data centers facing long grid connection delays and rapidly rising electricity demand.

Platform Designed for Hyperscaler Power Demand

Large computing campuses require highly stable electricity as processing loads change throughout the day. Those shifts can create abrupt changes in voltage, frequency, power quality, and overall demand. AI training and inference workloads place particular strain on power systems, as clusters of GPUs and accelerators draw large, fluctuating amounts of electricity that differ from the steadier consumption profiles of conventional enterprise computing.

Energy Vault said its platform is designed to coordinate generation and storage systems continuously across each site. The control software will manage power flows while helping maintain stable voltage and frequency throughout the infrastructure. It is also intended to reduce unnecessary generator cycling and improve fuel efficiency as computing workloads change. The system can respond quickly when computing clusters cause sudden changes in electricity consumption.

The modular design allows customers to expand power infrastructure as their campuses grow. Operators can later connect utility electricity, renewable generation, or other distributed energy resources to the existing platform. As a result, customers can begin operations before permanent utility connections are available and add capacity over time.

Energy Vault Expands Beyond Energy Storage

Energy Vault has historically developed utility-scale battery, gravity, and green hydrogen energy storage technologies. The company's gravity-based Energy Vault Resiliency Center (EVRC), based on its earlier EVx gravity storage architecture, represents one of its most recognized technology lines. The new agreement strengthens its move into broader energy infrastructure development and power plant integration. The company now plans to combine storage technology with generation, engineering, construction, and infrastructure management services.

Its strategic power infrastructure partner brings experience across natural gas engines, turbines, diesel systems, solar power, and hydrogen technologies. Energy Vault contributes battery systems, grid-forming technology, energy management software, and hybrid power integration capabilities. The companies said they plan to deliver complete power systems rather than standalone equipment packages.

The behind-the-meter power model has drawn growing interest across the data center industry as operators look for alternatives to waiting on constrained utility grids. Other infrastructure providers have pursued similar approaches pairing on-site generation with storage to accelerate project timelines.

They also plan to pursue additional hyperscaler, neocloud, and AI infrastructure projects after the initial deployment. Those efforts will focus on markets with constrained grid capacity, long interconnection timelines, and increasing electricity demand. The 1.25 GW agreement gives Energy Vault a larger platform for expanding its data center power business.