Energy Storage India 2017 Brings Global Industry Leaders in Energy Storage and Micro-grids to India

While media attention was focused on Vibrant Gujrat, Mumbai hosted a specialized International Conference and Expo on Energy Storage and Microgrids with over 250 delegates and 1000+ visitors. The 4th edition of Energy Storage India Conference and Expo was held at the Nehru Convention Centre in Mumbai, organized by Customized Energy Solutions and Messe Dusseldorf India, powered by India Energy Storage Alliance. The event was also supported by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), US Commercial Services and IIT Bombay. Honorable Railway Minister, Shri Suresh Prabhu, was the key note speaker with focus on Make in India and E-Mobility. Shri Suresh Prabhu reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to add 175GW of Renewable Energy (RE) in the grid by 2022 and also emphasized the need of storage to augment integration of RE. Mr. John Zahurancik, President – AES Energy Storage delivered a key note address highlighting drivers for energy storage in India based on AES’s global experience. He announced a joint partnership agreement between AES and Mitsubishi Corporation to deliver India’s First Grid-Scale Energy Storage Array (10MW) to Tata Power DDL.
Focus of ESI 2017 was “Moving from Vision to National Energy Storage Mission”. During the conference, Mr. Dalip Sharma, M.D. – Delta Power Solutions India announced expansion of Delta’s manufacturing facility in India to include production of Lithium ion batteries. Mr. John Wood, CEO – Ecoult announced a strategic partnership with Exide industries to launch its UltraBattery in India with a plan to set up manufacturing in 2017. Mr. Brett Galura of AES also invited Indian manufacturers to supply components for AES’s Advancion system. IESA and UL jointly invited nominations from the industry for IESA-UL energy storage standards taskforce to formulize India-based standards on energy storage modules and packs. Mr. Sunil Misra, Director General – Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA), and Dr. Rahul Walawalkar, Executive Director – IESA signed an MoU to facilitate capacity building in Energy Storage Manufacturing, Policy Frameworks and Human Resource Development.
The event witnessed strong participation from key policy makers and government bodies including Ministry of Power (MOP), NITI Aayog, MNRE, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) as well as state nodal agencies. The Policy and Regulatory session featured an eminent panel comprising of Dr. Pramod Deo (Former Chairperson, CERC), Dr. P C Pant (MNRE) and Mr. Pankaj Batra (CEA) among others.
The panelists briefed the audience about various initiatives and policy changes being considered by government agencies to fast track adoption of Energy Storage and Micro grids in India.
A key invite-only CXO Roundtable with key policy makers was attended by CEOs of IESA member companies to bridge the existing policy and regulatory gap in the sector and press for a national energy storage policy.
The participants benefited from knowledge sharing by various international speakers covering USA, Canada, Europe, Russia, China, Australia and Japan. A key highlight of the event was European Space Agency’s announcement on partnering with IESA in leveraging space technology to support micro-grid applications and modeling. Dr Dinesh Arora, Executive Director, REC, confirmed that over 700 minigrids are in process of tendering in the country. He requested the industry to keep up the pace of technology innovation for bottom of pyramid. The Microgrid Initiative for Campus and Rural Opportunities (MICRO) initiative by IESA was demonstrated during the conference, explaining its unique value propositions for various stakeholders such as investors, developers and equipment suppliers catering to microgrid market.