4th World Energy Storage Day (WESD) To Be Celebrated on 22nd September

The significance of energy storage as an integral part of the electrical grid is receiving increasing attention by a wide range of stakeholders including large consumers, renewable developers, utilities, grid system operators and regulators. On the 4th World Energy Storage Day, India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), India’s leading alliance on energy storage & e-mobility is organizing a one-of-its-kind Global Conference & Expo to develop a global ecosystem. The event will be held virtually on September 22, 2020 across four regions encompassing sessions on Policy and Government Initiatives, Stationary Energy Storage Panel Discussion, E-Mobility Panel and Latest innovations and developments in the energy sector. 2019 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Dr Stanley Whittingham is the Keynote speaker who is currently working as a professor of Chemistry in Binghamton University, State University of New York. The event will bring together 75+ global thought leaders and policy makers to share insights on latest developments and trends in the policy, technology, and business landscape in each of the four global regions. To capitalize on this opportunity, participants from over 60 countries already registered.

The energy storage sector has come a long way in the past decade and is seen as an enabler for transformation towards a greener grid and cleaner transportation.  The development of this sector is the result of the hard work and passion of all stakeholders around the globe. To celebrate the growing importance of energy storage, the Global Energy Storage Alliance started celebrating 22 September as World Energy Storage Day (WESD) in 2017.  Over the past three years, the IESA and its partners celebrated WESD with various national-level events to spread the word within each region. This year, with COVID limiting international travel, all the alliances decided to opt for a virtual platform to jointly celebrate the WESD with this unique conference. For the first time, a marathon online event dedicated to the energy storage and EV industry has been organized on this scale with the sole aim of encouraging international collaborations and accelerating the adoption of these technologies around the globe.

WESD Global Conference is supported by over 30 partners including, International Solar Alliance and World Bank- ESMAP. Niti Aayog, Invest India and Department of Science and Technology are the India partners and the Government of Australia is the partner country. The event has received support from global alliances and organizations, such as the Alliance for Rural Electrification; The Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (Assocham), The Australian Energy Storage Alliance; BVES- the  German Association of Energy Storage Systems; California Energy Storage Alliance; China Energy Storage Alliance; The US Clean Energy States Alliance; Dii Desert Energy; The US Energy Storage Association; European Alliance for Storage of Energy; European Battery Alliance (EBA250); Green Hydrogen Coalition; Indo German Energy Forum, Innovation Norway; Institute of Management Consultants of India; Irish Energy Storage Alliance, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, South Africa Energy Storage Association. Customized Energy Solutions is the presenting partner for the event and Amararaja, Exicom, Okaya, UL, BASF, Keysight Technologies, and Curtis have also joined as partners for this global event. For more details, please check (https://energystorageday.org/event/partners/)

Speaking about the event, Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, President, India Energy Storage Alliance says “We are thrilled to organize this virtual conference and expo on the occasion of 4^th World Energy Storage Day which is set to bring the world’s energy storage community together. The goal of this conference is to highlight the importance of energy storage in power & transportation sector, its potential, and impact on the sustainability of global energy resources.

For Indian market, we are all set to re-inculcate our mission of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’ in the energy storage sector. The sector has been dependent on global markets for manufacturing. However, in the recent past, we have seen numerous announcements and robust intent to manufacture energy storage components within the country.  Therefore, this year, with the aim to bring disruption in the energy storage space, we are excited to bring together global leaders and stakeholders to uncover the opportunities in the ecosystem in order to make India a self-reliant economy for energy storage. I urge the industry stakeholders to come forward and celebrate the day.”

The conference stands to benefit the energy storage community that can gain insights from some of the most eminent speakers such as Mr. Praveer Sinha- MD & CEO, Tata Power, Dr. Sanjay Bajpai- FNAE, Head (Technology Mission Division: Energy & Water), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Mr. Kaushik Burman, Vice President, New Business Development & Strategic Partnerships, Gogoro; H.E. Shri Upendra Tripathy- Director General, International Solar Alliance, Shri Ghanshyam Prasad, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog, Mr. Saurabh Kumar, Executive Vice Chairperson, EESL Group of Companies, Mr. Vijayanand Samudrala, CEO, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd and Mr. Anshul Gupta, Director, Okaya Power group to name a few. Coming forward for contemplation are some of the most prominent global speakers such as Dr. Tudor Constantinescu, Principal Advisor, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission, Mr. Chris King, Senior VP, e-Mobility, Siemens, Mr. David Schlosberg, VP, Energy Market Operations, Global Energy Services, e-Mobility EnelX, Mr. John Zahurancik, COO, Fluence Energy, Mr. Steve Blume, President, Smart Energy Council, Mr. David Morgado, Senior Energy Policy Specialist, Alliance for Rural Electrification, Mr. Austin R. Bryan, Senior Director, CLP Holdings Limited,  Ms. Carla Peterman, Senior Vice President Regulatory Affairs, Southern California Edison, Mr. Brieux Boisdequin, Vice President, Automotive and Materials, BASF India, Mr. Yoshiro Kaku, Chief Representative,  New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, etc. Refer to (https://energystorageday.org/event/speakers/) for an entire list of speakers.

The event is a collaborative effort in the disruptive movement of global awareness and development for energy storage industry and will feature a series of thought-igniting sessions across various parallel tracks related to policy, technology, and business landscape targeted for the MDs, CEOs, CFOs, COOs of the companies who intend to expand their offerings in the energy storage and EV sector.

The sun – the largest source of natural energy – has held much importance through the ages and people have gathered throughout time to worship the sun during the days of solstice and equinox with special rituals. The Autumnal equinox occurs on 22nd September and the day and night are of approximately equal duration i.e. the day are balanced. Energy storage has played a huge role in grid balancing, power supply demand management and frequency regulation and to acknowledge the balancing effects of Energy Storage, 22nd September was chosen as an apt date for the World Energy Storage Day