The sixth World Energy Storage Day (WESD) was commemorated virtually on September 22 and took place over the course of 24 hours in various locations around the globe.
The conference covered 16-panel discussions covering four global regions, APAC, Indian Subcontinent, EMEA and Americas. Each region will have four sessions: stationary energy storage, e-mobility & enabling infrastructure, green hydrogen, and manufacturing & supply chain. Technology workshops, Partner seminars, Virtual tours, Start-up pitches, Networking lounge, Virtual expo, and a Media corner were the highlights of the program. The event was supported by 30+ global organizations.
The event witnessed global participation from 100+ countries, 4000+ organizations, 6000+ delegates and 32,362 Auditorium visitors. The event kicked off with sessions on Asia and continued through the day as Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the Americas joined up later. Like every year, WESD witnessed participation of 1000s of participants including 100s of CXOs from leading companies as well as some of the top industry minds, researchers, and policymakers.
The event hosted 10 workshops on topics such as Battery Recycling, Mini Grid and Social Equity, Workforce Development and Jobs in Energy Storage, ESS Modelling & Optimization, Long Duration ESS, Solar + Storage, Giga factory Supply Chain, Urban Air Mobility, Women in Energy, Battery Fire in EV & ESS.
Global thought leaders shared their perspective and insights on the occasion
Ashish Kundra, Principal Secretary, Government of Delhi
“Our goal is to decarbonize the transport sector to the best of our capacity. With some substantial subsidiaries offered for EV buyers, Delhi has inspired customers to adopt electric vehicles for transportation. The State EV cell is also aiming for a disruptive approach.”
Ghanshyam Prasad, Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority (CEA)
“The importance of renewable energy coupled with battery energy storage is well established across the globe. Countries are trying to see where these technologies fit in within their larger energy management and energy mix. India too has recognized its need for energy storage, may it be hydro or battery storage, apparent from various policy plans and energy roadmap for future. The time frame for realizing the targets will be based on the needs as they arise.”
Dr Rahul Walawalkar, Chair, WESD and President & Managing Director, Customized Energy Solutions (CES), India
“We are hoping that by 2030 India can get at least 15 to 25 percent share in the global supply chain, in terms of the key components across the battery ecosystem. Materials is not the only concern, in my view, as well as in my discussion with some of the other thought leaders, it has come up that actually skill development could end up becoming the biggest challenge for achieving this dream, because right now we are growing up this manufacturing at such a fast pace that there are not enough trained personnel available for the kind of different roles, which are required for supporting the giga factories or the related supply chain.”
Vijayanand Samudrala, President – New Energy, Amara Raja Batteries
“Energy storage is very critical. I believe, we are in the right track, and we just need to accelerate our efforts. At this point of time, we might face the challenge of maintaining the demand and supply. The energy storage market in India could be huge and we need to create a new market with new chemistries coming in. India would not reach a global scale where it would influence the scale at large. Developing solutions at all the levels and business prospects around it will create the unique proposition for the Indian markets.”
Gayatri Dadheech, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Exide Industries
“For this decade, we expect a lot of progress to happen in energy storage and LFP & NMC will be the new frontrunners. To address the huge demand for raw materials, quick localization and institutional support will help in meeting this demand.”
Achal Sondhi, VP Growth, APAC – Fluence
“The storage market is ready and is now being adopted globally. Despite higher supply chain costs, India, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, US, APAC and so many others are looking increasingly at battery storage as a solution to the energy transition. Currently the load curve and generation curve are changing and because of that we have to balance and support the grid. Moving away from coal and changing the shape of the dispatch curve also needs storage for balance.”
Vikram Handa, Managing Director, Epsilon Advanced Materials
“With Indian companies, the challenge of testing facilities for battery materials persists. The need is to set up a global testing facility for helping these companies. There is a huge opportunity for India in terms of the battery supply chain.”
Knut Linnerud, CEO, Greenstat Asia
“Penetration of Green Hydrogen is strategic for India to invest in developing its own parallel technologies and capabilities to production. A key challenge is on balancing taxation and incentivization to promote best technologies, so that help in quick commercialization and achieve mainstreaming in the energy system.”
Young-Il Lee, Professor, Seoul National University of Science and Technology
Substitute for lithium-ion batteries necessary to reduce reliance on li-ion batteries. VRFB though not suited for cars but useful for operating energy storage systems. Different chemistries are a good thing for supply chain as well as various applications. In Korea, flow batteries acting as a support for EV Charging Infra.”
