Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. announced the acquisition of the McMurtre Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), a 175 MW / 350 MWh battery energy storage project located near Dallas, Texas.
The project, acquired from Belltown Power, represents a significant addition to Energy Vault’s growing U.S. energy storage portfolio and marks a further milestone in the company’s previously announced plan to deploy an initial 1,500 MW of BESS capacity — a target first outlined at Energy Vault’s 2025 Investor and Analyst Day. Energy Vault intends to contribute the project to its Asset Vault investment platform upon the project achieving Ready-to-Build (RTB) status.
The 175 MW / 350 MWh McMurtre BESS is located in the ERCOT North market, one of the most active and high-growth power markets in the United States with strong demand for grid stability. Energy Vault carefully selected this point of interconnection for its exceptional revenue projections and strategic fit within ERCOT North — a market characterized by strong power price dynamics, robust grid infrastructure investment, and proximity to rapidly expanding data center demand near Dallas. The project is expected to receive Notice to Proceed (NTP) in Q4 2026, with commercial operation targeted for December 2027. The McMurtre BESS features an executed Small Generator Interconnection Agreement (SGIA) and full site control, providing a clear and de-risked path to construction. Multiple investment-grade offtake structures are currently under consideration, consistent with Energy Vault’s strategy of securing bankable, front-loaded revenue streams across its portfolio.
The McMurtre acquisition reflects Energy Vault’s disciplined approach to identifying high-quality BESS development assets for contribution to the Asset Vault platform, Energy Vault’s fully consolidated subsidiary dedicated to developing, building, owning and operating energy storage assets globally. The project is expected to deliver $15–$20 million in average annual revenues over its technical life, representing $350–$375 million+ in total lifetime revenues with predictable, recurring high-margin cash streams. The Company’s $300 million preferred equity investment commitment provides “ready capital” enabling over $1 billion in project capex and a large funding foundation to support projects like McMurtre as they progress toward RTB and into construction.
“The McMurtre BESS is a prime example of the high-quality, strategic assets we are focused on building within our portfolio,” said Robert Piconi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Energy Vault. “With an executed SGIA, full site control, and strong positioning in the ERCOT North market near Dallas, McMurtre has the fundamental attributes our Asset Vault platform was designed to own and operate over the long term. This acquisition advances our near term 1,500 MW BESS deployment roadmap and reflects the power of our three-asset-class strategy — where BESS assets like McMurtre form the energy foundation that enables our powered land and powered shell offerings to create truly differentiated, integrated infrastructure for our customers and partners.”
Piconi continued: “Speed of capital deployment to accelerate ‘time to power’ is fundamental in this market, and this acquisition is another example of the swift execution prowess we continue to demonstrate as a company. It further reinforces Energy Vault’s strategy to build, own, and operate critical energy infrastructure in key regions globally — from the United States, where the Company is now developing a growing portfolio of BESS, powered land, and powered shell assets supporting critical AI compute infrastructure, to Australia, where Energy Vault has contracted 225 MW of eight-hour long duration storage across its Stoney Creek and Ebor projects in New South Wales,” added Piconi. “The Company’s deliberate geographic and asset-class diversification is designed to deliver resilient and high margin long-duration revenue streams while positioning Energy Vault as a premier digital infrastructure partner in the world’s most strategically important energy markets.”
The McMurtre acquisition is also a meaningful expression of Energy Vault’s broader portfolio strategy. The Company deliberately structured its Asset Vault platform around three complementary and synergistic asset classes — ownership of battery energy storage systems coupled with the high growth AI Compute segments of “powered land” and “powered shells” — that together provide asset portfolio diversification and create compounding value across the energy infrastructure lifecycle. BESS assets serve as the foundational layer of this strategy: they are the energy backbone that enables powered shell deployments, as demonstrated by the Company’s recently announced partnership with Crusoe Energy Systems, under which Energy Vault will deploy modular data center infrastructure close to BESS assets. McMurtre strengthens this foundation and advances Energy Vault’s ambition to be the leading provider of critical, sustainable energy infrastructure powering the AI-driven transformation of the global economy.
The McMurtre BESS will leverage Energy Vault’s B-VAULT™ AC Technology Platform 3, the Company’s latest battery energy storage product, designed to enable rapid and cost-effective deployment while delivering high system availability in the ERCOT region. The Company’s global B-VAULT™ portfolio now exceeds 3 GWh of deployed or contracted systems, spanning Europe, North America, and Australia, and is complemented by Energy Vault’s gravity, hydrogen, and sodium-ion storage platforms for multi-duration energy applications.
Asset Vault establishes a vertically integrated ecosystem that captures value across the entire energy storage lifecycle, pairing Energy Vault’s technical expertise with long-term asset ownership to generate predictable, recurring cash flows. Under Asset Vault, Energy Vault self-performs engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and long-term service agreements for projects, generating multiple revenue channels while preserving the flexibility to optimize returns through strategic capital deployment. Current projects managed or being developed for contribution under the Asset Vault platform include the 150 MW / 300 MWh SOSA Energy Center in Texas, the 57 MW / 114 MWh Cross Trails BESS in Texas, the 8.5 MW / 293 MWh Calistoga Resiliency Center in California, the 125 MW / 1.0 GWh Stoney Creek BESS in New South Wales, Australia, and the 100 MW / 870 MWh Ebor BESS in New South Wales, Australia.