-ENERGY-
Truly New Energy & Storage Technologies
We’ve been hearing about energy storage for a long time now – including the rapid development of lithium-ion batteries in “giga-factories” around the world, the broad emergence and popularity of EVs of all sorts, the growing pairing of storage with rooftop solar, big interest around storage to safeguard against climate events (including Public Safety Power Shutoffs in California), and so on. We’ve also heard some troubling things about those Lithium-Ion batteries – fires, issues around lithium and cobalt mining in 3rd world countries, difficulty recycling, etc. And we’ve seen some radically different approaches to storage too, like the technology that stacks and removes giant towers of concrete blocks. In the last couple of years, the sense of urgency around storage has increased significantly as more traditional energy resources (like nuclear and natural gas powerplants) leave the grid and are replaced by intermittent resources like wind and solar. Authorities like the CAISO and CEC tell us that we must add an unprecedented amount of energy storage in CA if we are to keep the lights on over the next few summers.Our panelists today will tell us about new storage technologies that may hold the key to ensuring our energy reliability and resiliency in California.
Moderator: Steve Sullivan, Former Managing Director, Southern California Edison
Panel:
Andrew McAllister, Commissioner, California Energy Commission
Jean Lachance, VP Deployment & Operations, EVLO
Takashi Yano, General Manager, Energy Sytems Division, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.