Energy Storage India sends out groundbreaking impetus for the Indian Energy and Power Industry

Over 3 intense days of the debut edition of Energy Storage India (ESI) Conference and Exhibition came to a close on December 06, 2013 at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai attracting 306 delegates from 12 countries throughout the world. Jointly organized by Messe Düsseldorf India, Customized Energy Solutions and powered by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), ESI 2013 is the first energy storage Conference and Exhibition in India to focus exclusively on applications, customers and deal making.

The first staging of Energy Storage India Exhibition had 14 exhibitors showcasing innovative technologies and applications in the energy storage sector. The exhibitors include Panasonic, Dresser-Rand, EEI Italy, FIAMM Sonick, Ecoult, Eaton Technologies, Aartech Solonics, Imergy Energy (Erstwhile Deeya Energy), Local Grid Technologies, India Energy Exchange, India Smart Grid Forum, Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) and Customized Energy Solutions.

The 3 day event kicked off with 3 workshops providing delegates with an excellent overview of various energy storage technologies, opportunities for solar storage and wind storage integration. The technologies covered in the workshop and conference spanned complete range including electrochemical batteries such as Advanced Lead Acid, Li-Ion, Flow batteries, Ultra Capacitors, Flywheels, Sodium Nickel Chloride, Sodium Sulphur, Nickel Iron as well as other forms of energy storage technologies  including pumped hydro, compressed air energy storage, thermal storage and hydrogen storage.

The two day conference started with a keynote presentation by Dr. Rahul Walawalkar (Executive Director, IESA) who provided the vision and roadmap for making India a key player in global energy storage industry while addressing various infrastructure challenges for residential usage. The conference covered the complete range of opportunities for advanced storage technologies in India including renewable integration, rural electrification, microgrids, smart cities, utility and industrial applications as well as electric transportation. The conference also included key policy makers such as Mr. Reji Kumar Pillai (President of India Smart Grid Forum), Dr. P. C. Pant (Head, Innovation and Energy Storage Research, Solar Energy Center, MNRE), Dr. Rahul Tongia (Advisor, ISGF),  Mr. V. L. Sonavane (Member, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission), Mr. Balwant Joshi (Idam Infra), Dr. Ketan Shukla (Former Chairman , Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission) and Mr. Jayant Deo (Former MD, India Energy Exchange), who shared their inputs on the regulatory environment and need of energy storage in India. The potential user perspectives were also provided by leading players in renewable industry from companies including Suzlon, Tata Power Solar, Solar Energy Corporation, MSEDCL, Reliance Power, IL & FS and Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy in India (AEEE).

Some quotes from key participants:

Brian Li, Business Director, New Energy Business Department, BYD Co. Ltd. said, “It was a good platform to know more about Indian Companies. BYD will definitely take part in ESI 2014. We initiated good contacts with Indian Companies like Tata, Mahindra and Reliance.”

Robert Stevenson, Engineering Communications Manager, Ecoult also stated that “We will absolutely come again to Energy Storage India, it was a fantastic show! All the presentations have been extraordinary. It is incredible to see the range of storage technologies and entrepreneurs all coming together in this space where everyone’s common goal is to work out how energy storage would work. It is great to see the energy storage market at this conference. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to meet potential clients, potential partners and all sort of people from all over the world.”

Albert Behr, VP Marketing, Local Grid Technologies said, “It is the right platform to be here to do business. We met people from Tata and Reliance and they are very critical partners for our success, if we are going to enter this market. This was a great event and we are definitely going to be here again next year. I hope this is going to be even larger and we can participate more in it. I will bring more companies from Canada as well!”

Matthew Shruhan, Manager – Policy Advocacy, US India Business Council also said, “It is a first of its kind of event in India. A lot of US companies are working in Energy Storage and applications. We see a good opportunity for the US companies to come here in India and potentially partner with Indian Companies and may be even manufacturing these technologies in the country that will help speed up the pace of commercialization!”

The conference also provided an opportunity for delegates to learn from experiences of key international speakers including Mr. Ron Somers (USIBC, USA), Ms. Kylie Bell (AusTrade, Australia), Thomas Grigoleit (Germany Trade and Invest, Germany), Dr. Christopher Hebling (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Germany), Mr. Takaya Watanabe (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan), Mr. Brian Lee (BYD, China), Mr. Hanafusa (Panasonic, Japan), Ms. Laurence Grand-Clement (PersEE, France), Robert Stevenson (Ecoult, Australia), Albert Behr (Local Grid Technologies, Canada), Mr. Sorin Grama (Promethean Power Systems, USA), Stephen Fernands and Jacqueline DeRosa (Customized Energy Solutions, USA).

The event also provided a platform for young entrepreneurs from India to present their ideas and solutions. These included Yashraj Khaitan (Gram Power), Ashish Gawade (Bottom of Pyramid Energy and Environmental Innovations) and Mr. Sham Patra (Naturetech Infra).

Exhibitors at ESI 2013 were in excellent spirits and reported having a host of excellent meetings with high-calibre delegates. Apart from exploring project opportunities, there were key meetings set up for exploring joint manufacturing and licensing arrangements for introducing latest technologies in India with some of the leading manufacturing companies in India. The growth expected in the renewable energy sector in India and with the confidence to be able to showcase pioneering product innovations for all sections added justified hopes of a brisk post-fair business.