Visionaries of a brighter future

Akira Yoshino is a fellow at the Asahi Kasei Corp, and president of the Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center (LIBTEC). Yoshino, along with American physicist John Goodenough and British-American chemist Stanley Whittingham, won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their work in developing Li-ion batteries.
After completing his studies in technology at Kyoto University, Yoshino began working at Asahi Kasei chemical company in 1972, with which he has been associated throughout his non-academic career. On completing his PhD at Osaka University in 2005, he headed his own laboratory at Asahi Kasei, and has been serving as a distinguished professor at Meijo University in Nagoya since 2017.
Yoshino's curiosity in the properties of new materials, electroconductive polymers led to the development of the first safe and commercially viable
Li-ion batteries that went on sale in 1991. He developed a new type of battery with a polyacetylene anode and a lithium cobalt oxide cathode, and a fine polyethylene-based porous casing that served as a separator between materials. This made the new battery stabler and safer than other rechargeable batteries available then.
Yoshino has 56 Japanese patents and six European patents to his credit. He has won several awards both in Japan and internationally for his distinguished contributions. In 1991, he won the 'Chemical Technology Prize' from the Chemical Society of Japan and 'Battery Division Technology Award' from the Electrochemical Society for his pioneering work Li-ion battery technology. In 2004, he won 'Medal with Purple Ribbon' from the government of Japan. He also won the IEEE Medal for Environmental Safety Technologies in 2012, Global Energy Prize in 2013 and in 2014 he won the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering from the National Academy of Engineering. In 2018, he won the Japan Prize and in June 2019, the European Inventor Award.

Arumugam Manthiram is an American material scientist, professor and the Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as the Director of the Texas Materials Institute at the university that manages the Material Science and Engineering Program.
At the Manthiram Lab in UT, Manthiram year-after-year manages a team of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars, and leads innovative material science research to develop new and affordable materials and efficient energy storage technologies. His research interest spans from advanced energy materials, rechargeable batteries, polymers, and nanotechnology to fuel cells, supercapacitors and solid-state chemistry, and is currently focused on rechargeable batteries, fuel cells, solar cells, and supercapacitors. Specifically, his group is engaged in developing new, low-cost, efficient materials for these clean energy technologies, novel chemical synthesis and processing approaches for nanomaterials, and a fundamental understanding of their structure-property-performance relationships.
In 2019, Manthiram delivered the Nobel Lecture in Chemistry on behalf of Chemistry Laureate John B. Goodenough.Manthiram has been awarded 10 patents and his work has been cited more than 30,000 times with an h-index of 130. He also has more than 600 archival journal articles to his credit and has given 300 presentations worldwide, including invited talks.
One of his ongoing researches that has gained increased significance is the low cobalt battery technology. In July this year, Manthiram along with two other researchers at the UT Austin reported results from test of a cobalt-free battery using a new cathode-chemistry that entirely eliminates cobalt. He is also working on making battery chemistries based on materials that are abundantly available and inexpensive such as lithium-sulfur, sodium-sulfur and sodium-ion batteries.
Manthiram believes that if the efforts around the world, including UT-Austin, to tackle the shortcomings of lithium-sulfur batteries become successful, lithium-sulfur batteries could be a game-changer by 2025.

Breakthrough Energy was established in 2015 by Bill Gates and a coalition of private investors concerned about the impacts of accelerating climate change. It supports innovations that will lead the world to net-zero emissions, building on the proven model of public-private partnerships that Gates has already used to transform health, education, and public welfare around the world.
Breakthrough Energy is encouraging the development of new net-zero energy technologies, championing policies that speed innovation from lab to market, and bringing together governments, research institutions, private companies, and investors to expand and enhance clean-energy investment.
In December 2016, Breakthrough Energy Coalition created Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investor-led fund with more than $1 billion in committed capital—to build cutting-edge companies that will help stop climate change. Since then, the fund has been building its team and refining its investment strategy.
The 20-year fund is backed by some of the world's richest entrepreneurs, comprising Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Virgin Group's Richard Branson, Jack Ma of Alibaba Group, and leading venture capitalists John Doerr and Vinod Khosla.
Based on an analysis of global megatrends and Breakthrough Energy's landscape of innovation, the fund has identified five initial areas of focus to guide its investments. The fund's team of leading scientists and company-building experts is reviewing investment opportunities in grid-scale storage, liquid fuels, micro- mini-grids for Africa/India, alternative building materials, and geothermal.
Breakthrough Energy Ventures has funded several companies to kick-start its motivated ambition of energy innovation: Form Energy, Quidnet Energy, CarbonCure, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, DMC Biotechnologies, Fervo Energy, Pivot Bio, QuantumScape, and Zero Mass Water.

Bill Gross is the founder of Idealab, a business incubator focused on new ideas. Over the last 23 years, Idealab has created and operated more than 150 companies, created more than 10,000 jobs, and had more than 45 successful IPOs and acquisitions in the areas of renewable energy, software, online advertising, Internet services, robotics, social media, and transportation.
Energy Vault was started by Idealab in 2017, along with co-founders Andrea Pedretti (CTO), and Robert Piconi (CEO). The startup creates gravity and kinetic energy based, long-duration energy storage solutions that are transforming the world's approach to delivering reliable and sustainable electricity. The company's missioned to fast-track the pace of sustainable clean energy adoption while stimulating economic recovery to more locations and institutions around the world.
Energy Vault developed a technology, based on the principles of pumped hydro storage, that it claims can slash the cost of energy storage to a fraction of the current price and make renewable energy cost-effective all day, every day. The company plans to build storage plants — dubbed 'Evies' — consisting of a 35-story crane with six arms, surrounded by a tower consisting of thousands of concrete bricks, each weighing about 35 tons.
This plant stores energy by using electricity to run the cranes that lift bricks from the ground and stack them atop of the tower, and 'discharge' energy by reversing that process.
Energy Vault has also signed up with Tata Power Company Limited, India's largest integrated power company, to deploy an initial 35MWh Energy Vault system.
Prior to Energy Vault, Bill founded a number of energy storage and solar companies, including Energy Cache, eSolar, Duron Solar, Raytracker, Thermata, and others.
Gross has been an entrepreneur since high school, when he made solar energy devices. In college, he patented a new loudspeaker design, and after school he started a software company that was later acquired by Lotus, and then launched an educational software publishing company. Now, he serves on the boards of companies in the areas of automation, software and renewable energy.

Carla Peterman is the Senior VP, Strategy and Regulatory Affairs at the Southern California Edison (SCE), one of United States' largest electric utilities. Here, Peterman is responsible for national and State levels of the company's regulatory affairs and energy and environmental policy, overseeing regulatory strategy and operation and environmental affairs. She is also the member of Sandia National Laboratories Energy and Homeland Security External Advisory Board.
Prior to SCE, Peterman held important positions such as the Commissioner of California Energy Commission between (2011-13) where she was the lead commissioner for renewables, transportation, and natural gas. She also served as the Commissioner at California Public Utilities Commission for a period of six years (2013 -18). At CPUC, she led several clean-energy initiatives, including the adoption of the nation's first electric utility energy storage mandate, approval of $965 million of utility investments in EV charging infrastructure, adoption of utility energy-efficiency goals, and the continued implementation of California's Renewables Portfolio Standard.
In 2019, she was appointed as the Chair of California Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and Recover Commission by California Governor Gavin Newsom, the commission played an important role in developing recommendation that led to the passage of legislation that holds utilities accountable for reducing wildfires risk from their equipment and promoted a financially stable electric industry. She has also held advisory and consultancy positions at Amply Power Inc., and the World Bank.
In addition to her professional journey in renewable energy and energy storage, Peterman has also served as the board member of the Utility Reform Network, an organization that represents consumers before the CPUC and California Legislature. She has been involved in other important associations such as the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners where she was the Chair of the board and California Broadband Council where she is a member. She has served as the Chair of the California Plug-in Electric Vehicle Collaborative.

Chetan Maini is an Indian entrepreneur and technologist whose lifelong vision has been to create products and solutions that accelerate the adoption of clean and sustainable mobility in India and beyond. He is better known for inventing India's first electric car Reva.
With the launch of the e-car in 1999, Maini successfully disrupted the mobility sector in India and created a buzz about e-mobility. At one point, it went on to become the world's most selling electric car, having sold in over 24 countries. In 2010, the Reva Electric Car Company was sold to Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (now Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd).
Taking his passion for transformative mobility forward, he joined hands with Uday Khemka, promoter of SUN Group, and formed SUN Mobility in April 2017. The vision of SUN Mobility is to create a universal network of interoperable energy infrastructure to accelerate mass adoption of e-mobility.
He has served as an advisor on several government boards shaping the framework for EV policies. He has been a member of India's National Board on Electric Mobility (NBEM) formed by the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Enterprise and on the Technology Advisory Group (TAG) on Electric Mobility under the Ministry of Science and Technology, government of India.
Maini has been recognized for his pioneering work and has received several accolades including the Innovation award in Energy and Environment by The Economist in London in 2011, BBC Top Gear 'Man of the Year' award in 2014, Frost & Sullivan India Start-ups – 'Visionary Innovation Leadership Award' in 2018, and was listed as one of the 'Top 50 most influential people in India' to bring about change, by Businessweek magazine. In 2011, he was also named 'Young Global Leader' at the World Economic Forum and was the Chairman of the Personal Mobility Council.
SUN Mobility has recently tied up with Bosch for technology, and with IOC to set up battery-swapping stations at their fuel pumps.

Chris Shelton is the Chief Technology Innovation Officer at AES, and President at AES Next - new energy business, AI, energy storage, solar energy, mobility, EE/DR. Previously, Shelton had served as President of AES Energy Storage, LLC, and helped spearhead the Group's energy storage business. He led the business unit with 84MW of advanced energy storage systems in operation and construction and another 500MW of projects in near-term development.
He has over 15 years of technology related development and systems architecture experience, and has been a leader in the origination of new business efforts at AES. These efforts include the launch of a retail electricity business where he pioneered the bundling of environmental offsets with customer electricity consumption, and began the first AES wind development efforts. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and is currently on the Board of the Electricity Storage Association.
The AES Corporation is a Fortune 200 global power company. It manages 36GW of energy capacity and provides affordable, sustainable energy to 17 countries through its diverse portfolio of distribution businesses as well as thermal and renewable generation facilities. Its diverse mix of generation and utility sources provides the strength, and flexibility to adapt to local and regional market needs, maximize plant efficiency and deliver reliable, affordable electricity.
The company is also building another nearly 5GW of energy capacity and has been growing its energy storage division, focused on selling battery systems. AES inaugurated the world's largest operational solar-plus-storage system in Kauai, Hawaii. The 28MW solar photovoltaic (PV) system and 20-MW/100-MWh battery system has been dubbed 'the PV Peaker Plant'. The combined system can deliver roughly 11 percent of Kauai's power, and it is expected to help Hawaii achieve its goal of reaching a 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.

Chris Shelton is the Chief Technology Innovation Officer at AES, and President at AES Next - new energy business, AI, energy storage, solar energy, mobility, EE/DR. Previously, Shelton had served as President of AES Energy Storage, LLC, and helped spearhead the Group's energy storage business. He led the business unit with 84MW of advanced energy storage systems in operation and construction and another 500MW of projects in near-term development.
He has over 15 years of technology related development and systems architecture experience, and has been a leader in the origination of new business efforts at AES. These efforts include the launch of a retail electricity business where he pioneered the bundling of environmental offsets with customer electricity consumption, and began the first AES wind development efforts. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and is currently on the Board of the Electricity Storage Association.
The AES Corporation is a Fortune 200 global power company. It manages 36GW of energy capacity and provides affordable, sustainable energy to 17 countries through its diverse portfolio of distribution businesses as well as thermal and renewable generation facilities. Its diverse mix of generation and utility sources provides the strength, and flexibility to adapt to local and regional market needs, maximize plant efficiency and deliver reliable, affordable electricity.
The company is also building another nearly 5GW of energy capacity and has been growing its energy storage division, focused on selling battery systems. AES inaugurated the world's largest operational solar-plus-storage system in Kauai, Hawaii. The 28MW solar photovoltaic (PV) system and 20-MW/100-MWh battery system has been dubbed 'the PV Peaker Plant'. The combined system can deliver roughly 11 percent of Kauai's power, and it is expected to help Hawaii achieve its goal of reaching a 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.

Daniel Wishnick has been instrumental in the management of the distributed solutions markets for North America. He comes with more than 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, engineering, business development and managing operations in the US, China, India, South America and Europe. As MD of Fluence, he is focused on driving change to accelerate the modernization of the company's energy networks.
In January 2018, Siemens and AES launched Fluence, uniting the scale, experience, breadth, and financial backing of the two most experienced icons in energy storage. Fluence is the result of two industry powerhouses and pioneers in energy storage joining together to form a new company dedicated to innovating modern electric infrastructure. The mission is to create a more sustainable future by transforming the way we power our world. Fluence brings the proven energy storage solutions and services that overcome the commercial and regulatory barriers that stand in the way of modernizing energy networks.
Fluence has built on more than a decade of grid-scale energy storage installations and currently has more than 760MW of battery-based energy storage systems deployed or contracted across 17 countries, the largest advanced battery-based energy storage fleet in the world.
In India, Fluence Energy launched the country's first grid-scale 10MW/10MWH battery energy storage project. The project is located in Rohini, Delhi, and is regarded as a milestone for India's entire energy sector.
Fluence's sixth-generation energy storage technology stack combines factory-built hardware, advanced software and data-driven intelligence. This forms the foundation for three purpose-built systems - Gridstack, Sunstack and Edgestack that are configured for grid, renewable and commercial and industrial (C&I) applications, respectively - that easily address the need for larger systems and larger fleets of systems. Fluence has already been selected by Enel, LS Power and Siemens for 800 MW/2,300 MWh of projects using the new technology.

Daryl Wilson is President & CEO of Hydrogenics Corporation, a Cummins Inc. company that is a leader in designing, manufacturing, building and installing industrial and commercial hydrogen generation, hydrogen fuel cells and MW-scale energy storage solutions; accelerating a global power shift to a cleaner energy future.
Wilson claims Hydrogenics has the "most energy dense hydrogen generation electrolysis stack in the world, some 4-6 times more energy dense than our competitors… this allows us to deliver large scale hydrogen generation projects at a much more competitive cost."
Hydrogenics offers an innovative Power-to-Gas solution for energy conversion and energy storage using electrolysis. It converts surplus electricity from renewable sources to produce hydrogen or renewable gas, and it can leverage the existing natural gas infrastructure.
Its advanced large-scale PEM electrolysis technology offers the smallest footprint and highest power density in the industry. With best-in-class efficiency and cost-effectiveness, the company has established itself as the market leader for multi-megawatt PEM (Polymer electrolyte membrane) electrolyzers.
Hydrogenic's Power Systems HyPM-HD platform has a range of power outputs for vehicles with electric drives. These mobility power solutions are built for applications from range extension to sole propulsion systems in power outputs of 30 to 180 kW. They are used in cities, airports, military bases and ports around the globe, including some of the world's largest automotive companies. The CelerityTM, and its advanced option, CelerityPlusTM are OEM-friendly zero emission solutions for medium and heavy-duty buses, trucks and forklifts.
The HyPM-XR Fuel Cell Power Modules offer critical backup power applications for data centers and telecommunications stations. These backup power systems offer seamless switching and virtually limitless runtime.
Hydrogenic's MW Power Plant platform is a clean, highly-reliable, cost effective power solution for backup, stand-by, and peak shaving stationary applications.

David M Shaffer is the president and CEO of EnerSys, and serves as president of the board of directors of Battery Council International. Prior to joining EnerSys he held positions with FIAMM Technologies, Exide Technologies Inc. and Johnson Controls Inc.
Under his leadership, EnerSys was keen to move into energy storage markets with its $750 million acquisition of the Canadian firm Alpha Technologies, a provider of AC, DC and renewable power for telecoms, cable, broadband and other systems. The acquisition helped EnerSys gain immediate scale, diversify end markets, and increase exposure to industries with attractive growth dynamics.
Shaffer joined the Company in 2005 and has worked in various roles of increasing responsibility in the industry before that. He is also director of several EnerSys subsidiaries.
Blink Charging and EnerSys collaborated to develop high power inductive/wireless and enhanced DC fast charging systems with energy storage options for the automotive market. The next-generation DCFC charging solution with high power energy storage features a modular design with output from 100-500 kW and will be economically priced.
EnerSys acquired battery maker NorthStar Battery Co. The deal added $150 million in annualized revenue to the company and will expand its ability to produce thin-plate pure-lead (TPPL) battery products. The company's acquisition of the Alpha Technologies Group of companies in 2018, has enabled it to provide highly integrated power solutions and services to broadband, telecom, renewable and industrial customers.
Shaffer feels that batteries are a key technology enabler for new concepts of mobility, connectivity and energy, like telecommunications and data centers, electric mobility, and stationary storage. He holds an MBA from Marquette University and Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois.

East Penn began as a dream of the Breidegam family. DeLight Breidegam Jr. left the US Air Force following World War II and began recycling old car batteries collected locally and reselling them back to local service stations. Within a few years, they had outgrown their original location in an old creamery in Bowers, Berks County.
Breidegam took on a partner in 1947, Karl Gasche, an MIT engineering graduate who worked at Bowers Battery. He became vice-president of the company, which was incorporated as East Penn Manufacturing Company. Raw material then started becoming available and with Gasche's expertise - he would ultimately hold 21 battery-related patents - the company began to manufacture new automobile batteries. The company's original battery line included five automotive batteries, with the best labeled Deka Precision Built. The company also sold batteries under the Berco and Hillcrest brands.
East Penn makes lead-acid batteries and accessories for starting, lighting, and ignition (SLI) markets, such as automotive, commercial, farm tractor, marine, deep cycle, lawn and garden, and power sports. The company also serves industrial markets with a full line of batteries for motive power, mining, and railroads, as well as stationary applications such as telecom, uninterruptible power systems, and renewable energy.
In 2005 East Penn acquired the automotive-battery division of Douglas Battery Manufacturing Co, adding a substantial North Carolina distribution center to its US operations. In 2008, East Penn entered into an exclusive agreement with Furukawa Battery, a Japanese battery manufacturing company, and CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), the Australian national science agency, to release the revolutionary Ultra Battery technology in North America that would be manufactured by East Penn.
DeLight Breidegam Jr passed away on September 9, 2015, at the age of 88, leaving behind a 65-year long compelling success story of American Entrepreneurialism.

Elon Reeve Musk is a visionary entrepreneur and tech investor better known for his ventures that seek to revolutionize transportation both on earth and in space.
The South African-born American entrepreneur co-founded and leads space transportation company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, also known as, SpaceX; electric cars and battery products manufacturer, Tesla; a neurotechnology company, Neuralink and an infrastructure and tunnel construction company called The Boring Company.
In 2003, when the veteran start-up duo Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded an electric car company called Tesla Motors, Musk provided the first significant source of funding for the venture. He backed Tesla Motors with a total of $70 million in investments and during the same time joined the company as the Chairman of the Board. Musk played an important role in Tesla Motors (later renamed as Tesla Inc.) and in 2006 Tesla introduced its first all-electric sports car, Roadster that put the all-electric automaker on the map. It achieved 349 km on a single charge — an unparalleled range for an electric car.
In 2012, Tesla stopped the production of Roadster to focus on Model S sedan, the world's first ever premiere all-electric sedan. In 2015, Tesla unveiled its third offering, Model X, to cater to the SUV/minivan market segment. In keeping with the promise to expand Tesla's product line to include 'affordably priced family cars,' Tesla has introduced Model 3 and Tesla Semi. Last year, Tesla launched Cybertruck a utility truck that offers more performance than a sports car, as well as the Model Y, which began customer deliveries this year.
In its objective to not only create electric cars, but also a sustainable energy ecosystem, the company has undertaken manufacturing of three energy solutions: Powerpack, Powerwall, and Solar Roof. These products allow business, utilities, and homeowners to control renewable energy generation, consumption, and storage.

Gautam Chatterjee is the CEO and MD of Exide Industries - one of India's leading lead-acid storage battery providers in India, catering to both automotive and industrial applications.
Chatterjee assumed charge as the MD in May 2016 and before that served as the Joint MD of Exide Industries from May 2013 to May 2016 and headed the Automotive and Submarine Batteries Business until May 2016. He has been a member of the board as Executive Director of the company since May 13, 1996, and is known to have been instrumental in making the Haldia unit of Exide as one of the leading battery manufacturing facilities in India. According to industry insiders, Chatterjee has a unique distinction of being a manufacturing person with sharp marketing acumen.
Exide's first manufacturing unit was set up in Shamnagar, West Bengal in 1947, and has since expanded to a total of nine manufacturing factories across India, of which seven factories are dedicated to manufacturing batteries and the other two for home UPS systems. The company has a dealership network spanning five continents and 46 countries.
With sales of 100 million batteries a year, the company's strength is that it designs, manufactures, and sells the widest range of lead-acid and electric storage batteries in the world from 2.5 Ah to 20,600Ah capacity with the view to cover the broadest spectrum of application.
Exide also boasts of a best-in-class R&D facility established in 1976, a proprietary R&D Centre at Kolkata, which aims at driving consistent innovation for better processes and products. Exide's R&D center has been recognized by the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India since April 1977.
Exide Industries under sustained leadership of Chatterjee has grown into a market leader in the battery space - with seven out of 10 cars on the road having Exide batteries.

Graham Cooley joined ITM Power as CEO in 2009. Before that he was Business Development Manager in National Power plc and spent 11 years in the power industry developing energy storage and generation technologies.
Before joining ITM Power Graham was CEO of Sensortec Ltd, founding CEO of Metalysis Ltd, a spin out of Cambridge University and founding CEO of Antenova Ltd.
ITM Power manufactures integrated hydrogen energy solutions that meet the requirements for grid balancing and energy storage services and for the production of clean fuel for transport, renewable heat and chemicals. The company uses the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology that uses only electricity (renewable) and tap water to generate hydrogen gas on-site.
Graham claims that green hydrogen, which is produced by using renewable energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen inside an electrolyzer, is an entirely zero-emissions gas. He feels the 1000 MW-a-year electrolyzer factory that ITM Power is currently building, will bring down the cost of the equipment through economies of scale.
ITM Power will move into their 1GW per annum factory towards the end of 2020. The factory in Sheffield, UK, is a 134000 square feet new development.
The company is also involved in the research and development of scientific and engineering projects; development and manufacture of prototype products; and sale of electrolysis equipment and hydrogen storage solutions. It also operates 13 hydrogen refueling stations.
Cooley points out that electrolyzers are needed to decarbonize the power sector, as they will allow more and more wind and solar power to be added to the grid from projects that might otherwise be unprofitable. This is because, as more wind and solar projects are added to the grid, renewables supply will exceed demand. This will push wholesale power prices to zero and below and result in increased curtailment. But if the excess renewable energy could be sold to green-hydrogen producers, it would increase the income for wind and solar project owners. This otherwise 'curtailed' energy, when used to fuel electrolyzers, produces H2 at zero cost.

H.C. (Hak Cheol) Shin is the Chief Executive Officer at LG Chem at Seoul, South Korea. He was appointed at the Vice Chairman and CEO of LG Chem in late 2018 and was the first CEO from outside the company nominated by LG Chem since its founding in 1947.
LG Chem has been involved developing its business areas from a wide range of petrochemical products to high-tech materials, components, and biotechnology fields such as new materials, rechargeable batteries, IT and electronic materials, and life sciences. Under his leadership, the chemical company looks to make rapid expansion in overseas production and marketing of Li-ion battery business and other aspects of the business.
H.C. has more than three decades of experience in operating global materials and components business. He began his career as a technical service supervisor with 3M Korea in 1984 and joined 3M Philippines in 1995 and later rose to become MD of the branch. In 2011, he became the Executive VP of 3M International Operations, and reportedly, the first Korean business professional to lead the 3M overseas business. In April 2017, H.C. was named the Vice Chair and Executive VP R&D, Supply Chain, BT/IT, Business Development reporting directly to Inge Thulin, Chairman, President and CEO of 3M.
H.C.'s work experience spans global regions, markets and businesses. He presently also serves as a member of the board of PSEG, a $18 billion New Jersey-based public utility company engaged in power generation and distribution for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. He is also the Chair of the Nuclear Generation Committee and Fossil Generation Committee.
LG Chem supplies batteries to Tesla and GM and has plans to boost its capacity to meet growing orders. It has plants in South Korea, China, Poland and Michigan in the US.

Hiroaki Nakanishi assumed the position of Chairman and CEO of Hitachi in 2014. In 2016, he was succeeded by Toshiaki Higashihara as CEO, and continues to remain the Executive Chairman of the Company.
Nakanishi joined Hitachi's Omika Works Computer Control Design Department in 1970 immediately after graduating from college. His first management position was in the Information and Telecommunications Group. In 1998, he became the managing director of Hitachi Europe. In 2004, he became senior vice president. In 2007, he became the chairman of Hitachi America and chairman of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, and in 2010 he became the 10th president of Hitachi. He is also chairman of the compensation committee and general manager of the post-earthquake reconstruction and redevelopment division
Nakanishi is much regarded and remembered for his influential role in the major governance overhaul and restructuring of Hitachi during 2014-2015. He has been credited for bringing in the defining change in the reshaping of the organization.
Speaking at the International Energy Agency (IEA) Summit, held recently this year, Nakanishi had expressed that that the clean energy transition challenge is a global one, but solutions will have to take into account the specifics of regions and countries. He stressed that the newly formed Hitachi ABB Power Grids, with its global footprint and leading technology and market position was well placed to serve the needs of governments and customers around the world.
He had said all nations share the common goal of increasing the contribution to clean electricity from renewables, and of contributing to the important mission of a sustainable energy transition.
Nakanishi completed his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 1970, and did his Master of Science in Computer Engineering from Stanford University, USA in 1979.

Horace Luke is the CEO of Gogoro, a Taiwanese company that develops and sells electric scooters and modular battery swapping infrastructure. He founded the company in 2011 and has since then been instrumental in steering the product development and corporate strategy.
Its product offerings include a range of Gogoro Smartscooter in series 1, series 2 and series 3 categories. It also offers the Gogoro Energy Network, a battery swapping platform for faster, easier, smarter way to power up electric vehicles across urban regions.
The broader vision of Luke is to transform urban transportation in congested cities around the globe. In his personal blog where he encapsulates the vision for the company, he emphasizes the need to utilize the latest in technical innovation and connectivity to bridge sustainable energy and urban transportation with the concept of easily accessible, hyper connected portable power, and turn the world's most densely populated cities into smart cities.
Luke envisions Gogoro Energy Network and Smartscooter would serve as a catalyst for more efficient, cleaner, and smarter energy choices in cities around the globe.
The company also has strategic partnerships with Colorado-based Gates for developing Carbon belts; with Maxxis, one of the leading tire companies in the world for developing performance tires; and Japanese electronics major Panasonic for developing battery cells.
Prior to founding Gogoro, Luke served as CIO at HTC, where he played an instrumental role in leading the company's transformation from a white label hardware manufacturer to one of the most desirable and innovative mobile phone brands in the world. From 2006 to 2011 at HTC, he led product strategy from concept to delivery, garnering a variety of industry awards, including the GSMA's 'Best Smartphone of the Year' in 2010 for the HTC Hero, the GSMA's 2011 Device Manufacturer of the year.

Imre Gyuk leads the energy storage research program at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which funds work on a range of technologies such
as advanced batteries, flywheels, super-capacitors, and compressed air energy storage. He aims to create more cost effective, longer-lived and more reliable devices.
Gyuk has helped the U.S DOE kick off a Grand Energy Storage Challenge, where it seeks to accelerate development, commercialization and utilization of 'next-generation energy storage'. He has contributed to the development of novel chemistries, the construction of intricate devices, the insights from analysis, and the innovative applications found to deploy storage.
He is also dynamically focused in the research to replace the metal-based electrolytes (e.g. vanadium) with batteries based on organic molecules. This will free storage from the oscillations of the commodities market and the dependence on foreign mining.
Gyuk has supported the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) vanadium redox flow (VRF) battery technology licensed by WattJoule. The redox flow battery is well-suited for storing intermittent, renewable energy on the electric grid. The technology can help balance supply and demand, prevent disruptions and meet the grid's varying load requirements.
Work under his direction has received 8 'R&D 100' awards, which honor the top 100 demonstrated technological advances. At present, he also manages the $185 million stimulus funding for Grid Scale Energy Storage Demonstrations, developing a portfolio of field-tested storage technologies.
After taking a B.S. from Fordham University, Gyuk did graduate work at the Brown University on Superconductivity. Having received a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Purdue University, he became a Research Associate at Syracuse. As an Assistant Professor he taught Physics, Civil Engineering, and Environmental Architecture at the University of Wisconsin. Research interests included the theory of elementary particles, metallurgy of non-stoichiometric alloys, non-linear groundwater flow, and architectural design using renewable energy and passive solar techniques.

Jeffrey B. Straubel is the co-founder and CEO of Redwood Materials, a startup focusing on advanced technology and process development for materials recycling, remanufacturing, and reuse. Established in 2017, the company's principal business is recapturing the lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other valuable components inside lithium ion battery cells and using them to make new batteries. Straubel believes the supply chain for batteries and metals alone is going to be one of the largest industrial growth areas in the next decade as the world shifts to renewable energy and electric transport.
Recycled materials will be less expensive than mining, refining, and transporting new materials, which means recapturing and reusing them will drive down the cost of batteries. That in turn will further accelerate the EV revolution by making electric cars less expensive. Straubel predicts a process so efficient that nearly 100 percet of the valuable components of discarded batteries could be recaptured and reused.
In 2019, Redwood Materials launched a trial with Panasonic (Tesla's battery partner) to recycle scrap materials from their batteries. The company is currently focusing on refining its recycling process on cellphone batteries before handling electric car batteries. In 2020, Redwood Materials raised $40 million from Capricorn Investment Group (founded by Jeffrey Skoll) and Breakthrough Energy Ventures (founded by Bill Gates).
The new startup is starting to emerge from stealth mode and it is already recycling scrap from Gigafactory Nevada, although not with Tesla. Straubel was an early founding member of Tesla and the company's Chief Technology Officer. He built one of the best engineering teams in the world at Tesla and among many topics, he led cell design, supply chain and led the first Gigafactory concept through the production ramp of the Model 3.
In 2008, the MIT Technology Review selected Straubel as '#1 Innovator of 35 under 35 for the year'. In 2009, DesignNews named him 'Engineer of the Year' and in 2015 he was listed #2 on Fortune's 40 under 40 most influential business and innovation leaders.

James Robo was named CEO of NextEra Energy in 2012. Robo completed the expansion of NextEra from its Florida-based utility business into an international clean energy player. The company charted its renewable energy growth by winning power purchase agreements with utilities and large consumers, securing income for decades in the future.
NextEra Energy is a leading clean energy company with about 45,900MW of generating capacity, revenues of over $19.2 billion in 2019, and about 14,800 employees throughout the U.S. and Canada. Its subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light, NextEra Energy Resources (NEER), NextEra Energy Partners, Gulf Power Company, and NextEra Energy Services.
Through its subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean, emissions-free electricity from eight commercial nuclear power units in Florida. NEER, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. It also owns and operates generating plants powered by natural gas, nuclear energy and oil.
A Fortune 200 company and included in the S&P 100 index, NextEra Energy has often been recognized for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance and diversity and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2017 list of World's Most Admired Companies. In 2018, Fortune ranked the company No 21 among the top 57 companies globally that Change the World.
Robo received his Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1984 and his MBA in 1988 from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.

Janice Lin is Founder and CEO of Strategen Consulting, a business with a mission to empower and inspire global Fortune 500 corporations, utilities, governments, project developers and associations to accelerate grid modernization, decarbonize the planet and improve quality of life around the world.
Strategen gives its clients implementable strategies to decarbonize the electric power sector. To achieve this, it utilizes its vast depth and breadth of technical, regulatory, product and organizational expertise in energy markets.
In the consulting business, Janice has advised a diverse range of clients including renewable energy technology and service providers, large corporations diversifying into clean energy, utilities, investment funds and non-governmental organizations such as the World Bank.
Through association management, Janice has distinguished herself as a leading clean energy change maker. In 2019 she launched the Green Hydrogen Coalition, an educational non-profit dedicated to transitioning to a sustainable, carbon-free energy supply with green (renewable) hydrogen.
In 2014 Janice had co-founded the Global Energy Storage Alliance (GESA), an international non-profit organization, and currently serves on the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Executive Committee. Prior to that, in 2009, Janice co-founded the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA), where she successfully served as Executive Director for ten years, growing the organization into a leading voice for energy storage in the State and beyond with over 80 active members.
Through the Strategen Events business line, Janice co-founded and for the last seven years has chaired the annual Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference and expo, the only mission-driven and the leading standalone grid-connected energy storage event in North America.
Janice has served on the Electricity Advisory Council of the US Department of Energy, the Board of Advisors for the Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC) and the Energy Storage Committee of Joint Venture Silicon Valley.
Janice Lin has won numerous industry awards, including the 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year Cleanie Award, the 2014 NAATBATT Market Development Award, and the ESA 2013 Phil Symons Energy Storage Award.

Javier Cavada joined Highview Power as CEO and President in 2018, to drive the global expansion strategy for the company's cryogenic energy storage technology. In less than two years of his leadership, the company developed a project pipeline of over 3GWh, including several large projects in the U.S. Cavada has been a strong advocate of building the modern energy ecosystem on a foundation of energy storage.
Highview Power is a designer and developer of the CRYOBattery, a long-duration energy storage solution. Its proprietary cryogenic energy storage technology uses liquid air as the storage medium and can deliver from 20MW/80MWh to more than 200MW/1.2GWh of energy that has a lifespan of 30 to 40 years.
Highview Power has been awarded a £10 million grant from the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for a 50 MW CRYOBattery. It was the only electricity energy storage technology company recipient of the Storage at Scale Competition hosted by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.
The company has entered into a joint venture with Carlton Power, an independent UK power station developer, to build and operate the facility at Trafford Energy Park, near Manchester. The facility will be one of Europe's largest battery storage systems to supply clean, reliable, and cost-efficient long-duration energy storage. In will also provide grid services to help integrate renewable energy, stabilize the regional electrical grid, and ensure future energy security during blackouts.
Earlier this year, Cavada was elected to the U.S. Energy Storage Association Board of Directors. He had spent
17 years in leadership positions at Wärtsilä Corporation including as president of the energy division and member of the corporation's executive board. He led Wärtsilä's drive toward 100 percent renewables, spearheading a deep transformation that enabled the company to become a leading system integrator. He also chaired the Board of Greensmith Energy Management and holds a PhD in industrial engineering.

Jeff Dahn is NSERC/Tesla Canada Inc. Industrial Research Chair, Professor of Physics and Chemistry and Head of Jeff Dahn Research Group at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada.
He is globally recognized as a pioneer in Li-ion battery cells – known to be working on Li-ion batteries practically from the time they were invented. Credited for helping improve the life cycle of the cells, which eventually aided their commercialization; his recent work focuses on increasing the energy density, improving the lifetime, and lowering the cost of Li-ion batteries. He is also recognized as the co-inventor of Li [NixMnxCo1-2x] O2 0 < x < 0.5 (called NMC) class of positive electrode materials now used worldwide in Li-ion cells. Many Li-ion cells made today use NMC positive electrode materials.
Dahn is known for building strong academia-industry interaction. During his years at Simon Fraser University (1990-96) he collaborated strongly with the R&D team at NEC/Moli Energy Canada (now E-One/Moli Energy Canada). He took up the NSERC/3M Canada Industrial Research Chair in Materials for Advanced Batteries at Dalhousie University in 1996 and held that position until 2016. In June 2016,. Dahn began a five-year research partnership with Tesla Motors/Energy as an NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair.
In his career spanning over four decades, Dahn has received numerous awards including the International Battery Materials Association (IBA) Research Award in 1995, Herzberg Medal - Canadian Association of Physicists in 1996, ECS Battery Division Research Award, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2001, Medal for Excellence in Teaching from the Canadian Association of Physicists in 2009, Rio-Tinto Alcan Award from the Canadian Institute of Chemistry in 2010, the ECS Battery Division Technology Award in 2011, the Yeager Award from the International Battery Materials Association, and the Inaugural Governor General (Canada) Innovation Award in 2016. He has over 630 publications in refereed journals and 65 separate inventions with associated issued patents and patents pending.

John Bannister Goodenough is an American scientist and professor of material science and mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as the Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the university.
In October 9, 2019, Goodenough - along with M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino -won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering role in developing the Li-ion batteries. He essentially built on the basic battery design invented by Whittingham and invented a new cathode that greatly stabilized the structure and improved its capacity. Combined with an anode developed by Yoshino, the result product was a powerful, safe battery that could be recharged hundreds of times and used to power wide-ranging consumer electronics.
Goodenough forayed into battery research during his time at the University of Oxford in England where he was appointed as a professor and head of the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory. After a decade-long career at the University of Oxford, he returned to the U.S. and joined the University of Texas at Austin, he taught at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and presently serves as the Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the university.
Though in his 90s, Goodenough's work in the field of solid-state material science is far from done, his efforts are now focused on developing new materials and technology that'll reduce society's reliance on fossil fuels.
In 2017, Goodenough lead a team of engineers to develop the 'glass battery', the first all-solid-state battery cells which would enable safer, faster-charging, and long battery life for batteries used in mobile phones, energy storage and electric cars. The glass battery was invented along with senior research fellow Maria H. Braga of the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas. In August 2020, SK Innovation, a South-Korean battery maker announced that Goodenough will be helping the company develop a next-generation battery.

Imre Gyuk leads the energy storage research program at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which funds work on a range of technologies such
as advanced batteries, flywheels, super-capacitors, and compressed air energy storage. He aims to create more cost effective, longer-lived and more reliable devices.
Gyuk has helped the U.S DOE kick off a Grand Energy Storage Challenge, where it seeks to accelerate development, commercialization and utilization of 'next-generation energy storage'. He has contributed to the development of novel chemistries, the construction of intricate devices, the insights from analysis, and the innovative applications found to deploy storage.
He is also dynamically focused in the research to replace the metal-based electrolytes (e.g. vanadium) with batteries based on organic molecules. This will free storage from the oscillations of the commodities market and the dependence on foreign mining.
Gyuk has supported the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) vanadium redox flow (VRF) battery technology licensed by WattJoule. The redox flow battery is well-suited for storing intermittent, renewable energy on the electric grid. The technology can help balance supply and demand, prevent disruptions and meet the grid's varying load requirements.
Work under his direction has received 8 'R&D 100' awards, which honor the top 100 demonstrated technological advances. At present, he also manages the $185 million stimulus funding for Grid Scale Energy Storage Demonstrations, developing a portfolio of field-tested storage technologies.
After taking a B.S. from Fordham University, Gyuk did graduate work at the Brown University on Superconductivity. Having received a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Purdue University, he became a Research Associate at Syracuse. As an Assistant Professor he taught Physics, Civil Engineering, and Environmental Architecture at the University of Wisconsin. Research interests included the theory of elementary particles, metallurgy of non-stoichiometric alloys, non-linear groundwater flow, and architectural design using renewable energy and passive solar techniques.

Kelly Speakes-Backman is the first CEO of the U.S. Energy Storage Association, that represents 180 member organizations along the value chain from electric utilities to financiers, manufacturers and component suppliers. She is also Board Member at Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP).
Speakes-Backman has spent over 20 years working in energy and environmental issues in the public, NGO and private sectors, including United Technologies, SunEdison and Alliance to Save Energy. She is a former commissioner of the Maryland Public Service Commission where she also served as chair of the Board of Directors of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, co-vice chair of the NARUC Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment, and member of the EPRI Energy Efficiency and Grid Modernization Public Advisory Group.
ESA is the trade association for the energy storage industry and the leading voice for companies that develop and deploy the advanced energy storage systems that support the power grid. She led the association's efforts to unleash the full potential of energy storage, doing so to lower energy costs for customers, increase reliability and resiliency, and enable a modernized, more flexible electric grid. In 2019, she was named the Cleanie Awards Woman of the Year.
In 2017, ESA released 35×25: A Vision for Energy Storage to have 35GW of new energy storage systems by 2025. An expanded vision for energy storage – 100×30: Enabling the Clean Power Transformation – was issued in August 2020. This white paper charts a path for the industry to deploy 100GW of new storage across the U.S. by 2030. The report outlines a combination of strengthened policy support, such as the investment tax credit (ITC) for stand-alone storage facilities, as well as the continuation of emerging policies that remove barriers to market participation.
Speakes-Backman is focused on the intersections of energy and environment, especially in relation to the policy and regulatory structures effecting generation, reliability, sustainability, renewable energy and environmental business strategies.

Mamoru Hatazawa has been serving as President and Representative Director of Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation, as well as Managing Executive Officer and Senior Executive Officer in Toshiba Corporation, since April 2018. He joined Toshiba in April 1982, and his previous titles include Director of Nuclear Power Business in Energy System Solution Company and Senior Director of Nuclear Power Business in the company.
Toshiba group has four business divisions: energy, social infrastructure, electronic devices and digital solutions. Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions is responsible for the energy business. It is a leading supplier of integrated energy solutions, with long experience and expertise in a range of power generating and transmitting systems and energy management technology. The company delivers innovative, reliable and efficient energy solutions across the globe. It objective it to realize the next-generation energy services with advanced IoT and AI technologies, utilizing the knowledge and know-how that the company has accumulated in energy system development and manufacturing.
Digitalization of the energy business is part of its efforts to become a leading 'cyber-physical systems (CP) technology company'. CPS offers sophisticated control and high value-added services by recognizing and analyzing the data collected from the physical world with digital technology, and giving feedback to the physical world.
In July 2018, the Group issued the 'Essence of Toshiba', a credo to raise the quality of life for people around the world, ensuring progress that is in harmony with our planet. As a signatory to the UN Global Compact, Toshiba Energy Systems says it is particularly focused on the 10 sustainable development goals. Hatazawa feels that corporations, members of a global society who face many issues, should not simply pursue short-term profits but also consider the long-term impact of their activities on that society, and aim to resolve some of these issues through their business activities, know-how and technologies.

Maria Skyllas–Kazacos is a researcher and emeritus professor in the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. She is better known for her groundbreaking work on the vanadium redox battery, which she developed at the University of New South Wales in the 80s. Her designs, which were later patented, used sulfuric acid electrolytes.
What distinguishes Skyllas–Kazacos's work is that all vanadium redox flow batteries have unique configurations (unlike commercially available batteries) determined by the size of the electrolyte tanks. This technology has been proven to be an economically attractive and low-maintenance solution, with significant benefits over the other types of batteries.
With over 40 years of academic and research experience, her expertise includes vanadium redox battery, used in EVs, energy storage batteries, electrochemistry, aluminum electrolysis, conducting plastics and conducting polymers. Her research and professional interest include metal extraction and molten salts, battery research, electrode processes and electrode materials and membranes of electrochemical systems.
She holds an Industrial Chemistry Engineering degree from UNSW and doctorate degree from UNSW's School of Chemical Technology. Skyllas–Kazacos worked as a post-doc fellowship at Bell Laboratories in the U.S.
and during her time at the labs she discovered soluble lead-ions in the charging and discharging reactions
of a lead-acid battery. Her paper about the discovery was awarded the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's Bloom-Gutmann Prize for the best young author under 30.
Skyllas-Kazacos has several scientific and academic accomplishments to her credit, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, Australia Day Honours List 1999, for her service to the field of science and technology, specifically, for the development of vanadium redox battery as an alternative power source. In 2000, she was awarded the R.K. Murphy Medal by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and in 2011, she was conferred the Castner Medal, by the SCI Electrochemical Technology Group, UK.

Martin Eberhard is the Chairman and CTO of the company Tiveni, Inc., a new venture started by him that's into developing battery systems. The company plans to drive down the costs, improving the safety and reliability of battery systems. With a keen interest in energy storage, Eberhard feels it is the key technology for EVs and green energy generation, and will be essential to make solar and wind energy scalable. This is his fifth startup after Tesla, NuvoMedia (an e-book venture that produced the Rocket eBook in1998), Network Computing Devices, and InEVit (EV battery systems).
Eberhard is best known for establishing Tesla Motors (now Tesla, Inc.) with Marc Tarpenning. With a passion for motorsports and sports cars from, combined with an interest in climate change and global warming, they came up with the idea for Tesla Motors. Eberhard became the first CEO of Tesla, until 2008 when he had to leave the company. Between 2009 and 2011, he worked as Director of Electric Vehicles Development at Volkswagen.
His insistence on the significance of utilizing green energy has led to him to be known as one of the 'most forward-thinking engineers of the century'. His key innovations have set the way for all ensuing electric cars; he believes that with the right technology choices, it is possible to build electric cars that are actually better than their competition.
A true visionary, he was ranked among the top 24 innovators of 2007 by the Fortune magazine.
Eberhard and Tarpenning had teamed up in 2003 to launch Tesla Motors, and subsequently designed and produced its first electric model the Tesla Roadster between 2006 and 2008. The Roadster could travel almost 250 miles on a single battery, with an acceleration and top speed comparable to many consumer-level sports cars. It had a standard lithium-ion battery structure, common to many electronic devices, and customers could recharge the car in a standard wall outlet.

Mateo Jaramillo's Massachusetts-based startup Form Energy Inc. is working on developing breakthrough low cost, long-duration energy storage solutions that will enable the electric system to be 100 percent renewably powered. With an aim to unlock baseload renewables, the focus was on a new electrochemical battery that could provide storage services for days, not just hours.
The company announced the first real-world pilot of its 'aqueous air' battery — a technology that can discharge 1MW of power for about 150 hours straight. The pilot is the outcome of a partnership with Great River Energy, a Minnesota-based Utility that is planning a transition to a lower-carbon power mix. The new battery will be tested through 2023 at the Utility's Cambridge Station gas plant in Minnesota.
According to Great River, the new battery storage will reduce the cost of electricity to its customers and that its power supply resources will be more than 95 percent carbon dioxide-free.
Jaramillo believes long-duration batteries would enable the use of clean energy throughout the year, bridging gaps in renewable electricity supply that can last days or even weeks, while also playing a complementary role in intraday storage needs.
Jaramillo was formerly Vice President of Products and Programs for Tesla's stationary energy storage program, an effort that he had started. In that role, he was responsible for Tesla Energy's product line and business model definition, as well as global policy and business development.
He joined Tesla in 2009 as the Director of Powertrain Business Development, serving as commercial lead and primary negotiator on over $100M in new development and $500M in production contracts signed for electric powertrain sales. He went on to start the Stationary Energy Storage unit at Tesla, launching and building the Powerwall business. He also helped launch their supercharger business.

Pasquale Romano is the CEO and the President of ChargePoint. Based in Silicon Valley, the company sells charging hardware and runs the network and the payment app for consumers who use its equipment. It operates as an open EV charging network, offering both Level 2 charging stations, which can charge an EV in less than 4 hours; and DC fast charging stations, which can do so in less than 30 minutes.
The Company provides cloud-based service plans as annual subscriptions for providing tools, data, payment processing, and driver support. ChargePoint serves corporations, utilities, municipalities, shopping centers, and parking services providers worldwide.
Romano has been instrumental in opening many new ideas and paths for the company to increase the revenue and expansion in foreign lands. ChargePoint has set up a comprehensive EV charging network across Europe, bringing its best charging solutions to the drivers in that region. Writing about the company's foray outside the U.S., Romano said that ChargePoint's mission is to 'transform transportation by getting everyone behind the wheel of an EV'. "For nearly ten years, we've been perfecting a full range of EV charging solutions and deepening our understanding of the EV driving experience," he wrote.
He feels that charging is a key part of accelerating adoption of EVs, and that if it can be made easy to use and better then people will start driving on electricity faster. And when they do that, he believes, the environmental impacts will be obvious for all to see.
Romano joined ChargePoint in February of 2011, bringing more than 30 years of technology industry leadership and executive management experience to the company. He co-founded 2Wire which was acquired by Pace for $475 million in 2010. Previously, Romano held multiple positions in marketing and engineering at Polycom. In 1989, he co-founded Fluent, Inc., a digital video networking company and served as Chief Architect until it was sold to Novell Corporation in 1993. He is also Member of the Board of Directors at AgilOne.

Patrick Clerens has been involved in the energy and climate field since 2003. He has managed the EASE office in Brussels as Secretary General since its establishment in September 2011. Since then, EASE supports the transition towards a sustainable, flexible and stable energy system in Europe, and has grown from the preliminary 13 founding members to around 40.
Clerens is dynamically engaged in stimulating the development and deployment of innovative and cost-effective energy storage technologies. He aims to promote a fair and future oriented energy market design that recognizes storage as an indispensable element of the energy system. He brings 20 years' experience in the climate and energy fields, and is working on establishing a platform for information-sharing on energy storage technologies and applications.
He has facilitated EASE through many years of collaboration with its members from across the energy storage value chain, and has helped it focus on identifying the best path towards a rapid and realistic deployment of storage technologies.
In November 2016, the publication of the Clean Energy for All Europeans Package marked an important shift for the energy storage industry. The European Commission's proposed legislative and non-legislative proposals mentioned energy storage for the first time as a key element in EU energy policy.
EASE has successfully defined energy storage as a separate asset (neither generation nor consumption) and has enabled operators to own and operate energy storage within their asset portfolio. A report published by EASE and analysis firm Delta-Energy and Environment in 2020, forecasts that regardless of a decline in 2019, big things are still anticipated in Europe's energy storage sector in the near future.

Rachid Yazami is a Moroccan scientist better known for his invention
of the lithium graphite anode in 1979-80, which is used in the lithium batteries of most cellphones today. He is also the founder and CTO
of KVI PTE Ltd., a startup in Singapore dedicated to battery life and
safety enhancement for mobile electronics, large energy storage, and
EV applications.
In 1981 he developed the graphite oxide and graphite fluoride cathode materials for lithium batteries, and later went on to develop metal chloride intercalated graphite materials for rechargeable lithium batteries in 1983. He followed it with two-dimensional magnetic materials studies in 1984.
Post the completion of his PhD, Yazami worked at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), in France's Grenoble Institute of Technology, where served as the Research Associate and Director for 33 years and rose to become Research Director at the Centre.
In 2007, he founded CFX battery, Inc. (now Contour Energy Systems), a primary and rechargeable lithium and fluoride battery startup in Azusa, California. Yazami has been a visiting associate in materials science and chemistry at Caltech for ten years, and in 2010, he joined the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore as a visiting professor in materials science. There his work centered around lithium batteries and future beyond lithium battery technologies, including liquid anode alkali metal-air and fluoride-ion batteries.
In his career spanning 40 years, he is listed as an inventor on more than 140 patents related to battery technology, including nano-Si- and nano-Ge-based anodes for ultra-high rate charge lithium batteries, the lithium-carbon fluoride battery for space and medical applications, and more recently liquid anodes.
In 2014, the National Academy for Engineering awarded Akira Yoshino, John Goodenough, Yoshio Nishi, and Rachid Yazami with the Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering, considered the equivalent of a Nobel for engineers, and recognized his work in the development of the graphite anode.
He has co-authored more than 250 papers on batteries and their materials and systems.

Rahul Walawalkar is president of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), India's only alliance dedicated to the advancement of advanced energy storage, microgrids and e-mobility technologies. He is also the President and MD of Customized Energy Solutions India based in Pune, where he leads the Emerging Technologies and Markets team with focus on energy storage, renewables, demand response and smart grid technologies. An engineer by vocation and champion for clean energy and advanced energy storage, Walawalkar's vision is to make India a global hub for R&D, manufacturing, and adoption of advanced energy storage and EV technologies.
Walawalkar has been instrumental in providing inputs for demand response, energy storage and smart grid policy to government agencies in India as well as in the U.S. He has provided inputs to several multilateral agencies such as the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), International Energy Agency (IEA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB). He has served as an expert evaluator for US Department of Energy for various smart grid and energy storage demonstration projects in the US during 2009-12.
In 2012, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) nominated him as chairperson of working group on integrating renewable energy sources, microgrids and energy storage as part of Smart Grid Coordination Committee. In June 2013, he was also nominated as member of national taskforce for integration of electricity from renewable energy sources in the grid during the 12th Plan by Central Electricity Authority and Ministry of Power, Government of India. In May 2014, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) nominated him on the standing committee for energy storage and hybrids.
He has served as board member for Energy Storage Association, USA during 2009-15 and currently serves as Chair for Global Energy Storage Alliance (GESA). He was recognized with India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) President's Award in 2018, and also the Energy Storage Crusader Award from Renewable Energy India Expo in 2017.

Rakesh Malhotra founded LivGuard Energy Technologies Pvt Ltd, a company that has established itself as a strong player in the energy solution space in India and as one of the fastest growing global brands.
Founded in 2014, LivGuard provides power generation equipment. The Company offers automotive batteries, inverters, stabilizers, and residential solar solutions. The brand operates under the SAR Group, which had earlier sold its power backup solutions brand Luminous to French engineering company Schneider Electric in 2013.
Malhotra has a robust zeal for brilliant ideas and is blessed with an entrepreneurial acumen and laser-sharp focus. He aims to be a global leader in energy storage products driven by innovative technology and excellence in manufacturing and services.
Over the last 30 years he has worked with businesses and companies from around the world in diverse areas covering power, energy storage, renewable energy, EVs, engineering services, KPO, telecommunications and energy efficiency. He has started and invested in over 15 startup ventures over the years, and is currently involved in mentoring many startups in India and Singapore and likes to interact with engineering and B school students to develop their interest in entrepreneurship.
A graduate from Jadavpur University India in Electronics & Telecom Engineering, he started his career in 1983 at NELCO (Tata Group) followed by Mitsui and Siemens. In 1985 he founded his first venture called Oak Power Systems, which sought to develop the power situation in India by designing and marketing India's first offline UPS system for PCs. Later, he started his innings with Luminous Power Technologies. Moving on towards many paths, his driving force remains his innovative spirit to add something extra to his products backed by extraordinary services.

Ramchandra Naidu Galla is an Indian businessman, and founder and Chairman of Amara Raja Group of companies. He started his business in 1985, and since then Galla has expanded the business into a large conglomerate, which today includes six companies encompassing 14 businesses and a revenue exceeding $1 billion.
Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (ARBL), one of the Group's six companies is a leading manufacturer of lead-acid batteries for both industrial and automotive applications in the Indian battery storage industry. The company manufacturers automotive batteries and home UPS/inverter batteries under the brands Amaron and PowerZone.
In India, ARBL is the preferred supplier to major telecom service providers, telecom equipment manufacturers, the UPS sector (OEM and replacement), Indian Railways and to the power, oil, and gas among other industry segments. Beyond Indian markets, ARBL products are also exported to most of the countries on the Indian Ocean Rim. Amara Raja's Industrial Battery Division comprises brands such as PowerStack, Amaron Volt, Amaron Sleek, Amaron Volt Amaron Brute and Amaron Quanta.
In June 2020, ARBL signed an agreement with Gridtential Energy to collaborate on bipolar battery technology. Under the technology evaluation agreement, the two companies will assemble and test Silicon Joule bipolar reference batteries using Amara Raja's active material to determine improvements in cycle life, energy density, battery efficiency, charging rates and manufacturability.
Galla has several notable awards and achievements for his contributions to the industry. He was presented the 'Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award' in 1998 by the Hyderabad Management Association. He has also been conferred with 'The Spirit of Excellence' award by the Academy of Fine Arts, Tirupati.
He established the Krishna Devaraya Educational and Cultural Association (KECA), a charitable trust that provides educational scholarships to poor students, and Rajanna Trust and Mangal Trust that work towards making water accessible to communities living in remote Indian villages.

Randall MacEwen has been the President, CEO and a member of the board of directors of Ballard Power since October 2014. He has held executive roles in clean energy companies for over 15 years, including in fuel cells and solar.
Ballard Power Systems is a Canada-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell products designer. Its power product markets are heavy-duty motive, portable power, material handling and backup power. It offers technology solutions that include engineering services and the license and sale of its intellectual property and fundamental knowledge, for a variety of fuel cell applications.
The company is well-established with 40 years of experience in manufacturing fuel cell products. Besides road vehicles, Ballard delivers fuel cells also for trains, mining trucks, marine applications and backup power systems for critical infrastructure such as mobile towers. It is also into development of a fuel cell system for application in drones.
Ballard is working with Siemens to develop a 200kW fuel cell engine for integration into the new Siemens Mireo train platform. It is also working with ABB on collaboration activities toward the development of megawatt-scale proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell power systems for the marine market. Early this month, Ballard Power Systems introduced fuel cell industry's first commercial zero-emission module to power marine vessels ships.
MacEwen was Founder and MD of NextCleanTech LLC, a cleantech consulting firm, from 2009 to 2014. Before that he served as President and CEO of Solar Integrated Technologies, a rooftop solar company. In the early 2000s, he served as Executive VP - Corporate Development of Stuart Energy Systems Corp, supplier of hydrogen generation systems. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) degree from York University and a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Western Ontario.

Robert Galyen is industry's top battery and energy storage expert and currently serves as a CTO of CATL in NingDe, Fujian Province, China. CATL is the largest manufacturer of Li-ion batteries used in EVs and high efficiency storage systems.
In his career spanning over 40 years, Galyen has gained expansive experience in battery technology, manufacturing and business operations of small (Tawas, Indy Power Systems, World Energy Labs) and large (ATL, CATL, Magna, Delphi, General Motors) corporations. In the early years of his career at Magna, Delphi and GM, he worked on the very first EV1 program powered by lead batteries.
Under Galyen's leadership CATL grew to over 25,000 employees and secured its position as the world's largest manufacturer of Li-ion batteries. In December 2019, Galyen joined the advisory board of Tydrolyte, a company that has exclusive global rights and was established to commercialize the novel, patent pending Tydrolyte electrolyte in lead battery and other battery applications
He held the Chairmanship of SAE International Battery Standards Steering Committee for eight years with 22 Committees reporting to him, and served as a liaison to the MVC and China Automotive Advisory Councils for SAE International. He is the Chairman Emeritus and CTO of NAATBatt International, a trade association focused on the battery industry. He also serves on two non-profit organizations including the Lugar's Advisory Board for Renewable Energy at IUPUI, the Dean's Executive Advisory Council at Ball State University and the National Fire Protection Agencies Board of Advisers.
Galyen has received numerous notable awards including, SAE International's 'Technical Standards Board Outstanding Contribution Award,' General Motors 'Best of the Best' award, Automotive News 'Electrifying 100' award, NFPA Fire Protection Research Foundation's 'Foundation Medal,' Ball State University 'Circle of Distinction Award,' Talent 1000 Award from Peoples Republic of China as 'National Distinguished Expert' in 2014 and China Friendship Award in 2015.

M. Stanley Whittingham is an English chemist and a leading researcher credited with the discovery of Li-ion batteries. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 for his pioneering work in developing the Li-ion battery along with John Goodenough and Akira Yoshino.
In 1970, Whittingham developed an innovative cathode in a lithium battery and Goodenough built on the original design and developed the basis of modern Li-ion batteries. During those days, there was heightened interest in studying high-temperature batteries, so Whittingham started looking into mixed conductors and studying materials during his time at Stanford University, California.
Soon thereafter, he joined ExxonMobil (then Esso) where he was hired by the company as a part of its initiative to expand the reach of energy companies. It was at Exxon's battery technology lab, that Whittingham created the rechargeable Li-ion powered battery. The high-energy Li-ion technology today powers most consumer electronics from cell phones, laptops, to EVs and is vital in storage of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.
Whittingham currently serves as a distinguished professor of Chemistry at the Binghamton University, the state university of New York. He also serves as a professor and director of the NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage (NECCES).
In June 2014, the NECCES Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) at Binghamton directed by Whittingham was awarded $12.8 million, a four-year grant by the Department of Energy (DOE) with the view to fast-track scientific inventions that'll help build a 21st-century energy economy. Last year, DOE's EFRC program gave an additional
$3 million to NECCES for continuing critical research for two more years. Whittingham has led the charge of NECCES team since 2014 and continues to work with other scientists and engineers to develop new, improved, and affordable energy storage materials, which will have greater storage capability.

Stephen Fernands is Founder and President of Customized Energy Solutions. Started in 1998, the company helps thousands of companies understand wholesale and retail electric and natural gas market and implement solutions through its hosted software platforms.
Fernands's aim is to have a global presence, wherever deregulated electricity or natural gas markets exist. He is also working on substantially accelerating the commercial application of new energy technologies
and free energy market structures. The key goal is to exemplify the highest level of energy information technology and services available
to clients globally.
Fernands has led the expansion of CES from a mid-Atlantic based energy services firm to one that provides comprehensive solutions throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, India, and Japan. In 2010, CES opened its office in India, where it aims to spearhead integration of technologies such as energy storage, microgrids, and smart grids to Indian consumers.
CES is an energy advisory and service company that works closely with Clients to navigate the wholesale and retail electricity markets across the United States and globally. It offers software solutions, back office operational support, and advisory and consulting services focused on asset optimization and energy market participation efficiency.
CES is also a third-party asset manager of approximately 10,000MW of renewable and conventional generation resources across all ISOs in the US and Ontario, Canada.
INC magazine ranked CES as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. from 2005 through 2015, and in 2008 it was the 15th fastest growing private company in the energy industry.

Takeshi Uchiyamada is a Japanese business executive and Chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. He is popularly also referred to as the 'father of Prius', for leading the development of Toyota Motor's Prius hybrid car.
The automotive industry veteran has been associated with Toyota for more than 50 years. With a background in applied physics, he joined Toyota Motor Corporation immediately after graduation in April 1969. He held several key positions during his time at Toyota, but he led
the most notable project when he became the chief engineer responsible for the team that created the first-generation Prius―the world's first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car.
An experienced vehicle engineer, Uchiyamada is reckoned as an engineer who opened the road to the future of automobiles through advanced hybrid technology. After being named to the Board of Directors in June 1998, he oversaw the Vehicle Development Center 3 and gradually rose through several key positions and ranks.
In June 2001, he became the managing director and chief officer of the Overseas Customer Service Operations Center and was also appointed chief officer of the Vehicle Engineering Group in June 2003. In June 2004, he became chief officer of the Production Control & Logistics Group, and in June 2005, he became the Executive Vice President. Uchiyamada was appointed Vice Chairman of the board of directors in June 2012, and then Chairman in June 2013.
Beyond TMC, Uchiyamada serves as the Director of JTEKT Corp and Director of MITSUI and Co. Ltd. In 2015, he was awarded the Medal with Blue Ribbon by the government of Japan. The award recognizes individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work. the Blue Ribbon Award in particular is conferred on individuals who have made significant achievements in the areas of public welfare or public service.

Higashihara joined Hitachi in 1977, and was appointed Vice President and Executive Officer in 2007. Since then his growth in the company has progressed steadily. In 2016 he succeeded Hiroaki Nakanishi as the CEO of Hitachi. This appointment came at a time when Hitachi had redefined itself after a major governance overhaul and restructuring. Nakanishi has been credited for bringing in the defining change, and Higashihara has since strengthened the company's commitment to focus on core strengths and evolve.
Hitachi has long been involved in activities extending from research and development to system integration, in addition to manufacturing materials for energy storage devices and batteries for industrial and automotive applications. Hitachi deals with a wide range of systems and can configure economical solutions for specific applications by optimizing the best energy storage system for a given application. These include advanced lead-acid batteries, which can store relatively large amounts of energy, and lithium-ion batteries, which can deliver a high level of output over a short period.
In 2018, Hitachi made its biggest overseas acquisition - ABB's power grids business for around $6.4 billion. The company has combined ABB's strengths with its digital technology to build an energy platform that contributes to innovating the energy business.
Expanding beyond the energy sector, Hitachi ABB Power Grids Ltd. is planning to supply solutions to various industrial fields. Combining them with Hitachi's Lumada and other digital technologies, the company has set its sights on business expansion into fields other than energy, such as mobility, lifestyle, and industry.
Hitachi's Social Innovation Business combines Hitachi's OT, IT and products to create new value and resolve social issues. In the future, this system will not only play a role in the stabilization of the electrical grid in Japan, which is expected to introduce large amounts of renewable energy, but will also find application in small-scale power grids and microgrids on islands that need energy storage.

Trevor Milton is an American businessman, who founded the Nikola Motor Company in 2014, in Arizona, U.S., with the goal of transforming and disrupting the transportation industry in America. A pioneer of zero-emission trucks, Nikola offers both pure electric and hydrogen electric powertrains across multiple applications. It also designs and manufactures energy storage systems and electric vehicle drivetrain components.
Milton's mission has been to build locomotive semi-trucks as their powertrain is more efficient and reduces carbon emissions. He credits his vision's roots to his early years where he had access to trains in Las Vegas on account of his father's job. One day, an engineer showed young Milton how a locomotive ran on electricity that was generated by the diesel engines, the man noted that one day someone will build a locomotive semi-truck. Mr. Milton has described that as his 'lightbulb' moment and since then has been driven to build a locomotive semi-truck.
A serial entrepreneur, Nikola is the sixth company founded by him. As per reports, the company aims to get thousands of futuristic hydrogen-powered trucks on the road throughout the 2020s that can travel up to 750 miles between fueling stations that it plans to build and operate. Orders are already backlogged for 14,000 fuel cell trucks to the tune of $10 billion, and customers like Anheuser Busch have already ordered 800 trucks which the company expects to start delivering by 2021.
Nikola can make about $750,000 or more in revenue per truck which is almost five times what the competitors could make per truck. This is because the company includes the fuel with the electric truck that the company owns and manufactures. Reports suggests, each truck will be leased for seven years with 1 million miles of fuel
and maintenance included. Nikola is also making headways beyond trucks. It is considered a pioneer in electric
off-road and powersport applications. Nikola Powersports currently designs electric Off Highway Vehicles (OHVs) and personal watercrafts for commercial and military markets.

Tristan Grimbert leads EDF Renewables' activities throughout North America, overseeing three primary business lines: grid-scale power, asset optimization, and distributed solutions. His tenure began in 2004 as President and COO. He was appointed CEO in July 2008 and later that same year was named CEO of both the Canada and Mexico subsidiaries, leading the expansion into both countries from the North American headquarters in San Diego, California. Under Grimbert's leadership, North American operations have experienced significant growth, emerging as one of the most respected and successful renewable energy companies in the industry.
Grimbert has been instrumental in the growth of the company; overseeing a fourteen-fold increase in revenues since 2004. The U.S. portfolio consists of 13GW of developed projects. The company launched project development in Canada in 2007, and today, EDF Renewables Canada boasts 1.9GW of wind and solar in development or operation. In the 16 years since he joined EDF Renewable Energy, Tristan has administered a five-fold increase in revenues for the clean energy company
EDF Renewables has signed a contract for a 200MW solar + storage 180 MW / 4 hr. project in Nevada. The organization is providing the State of Nevada with solutions to help it meet its decarbonization goals. The solar and storage system at the Chuckwalla project gives a solid guarantee of electricity supply during the evening demand peak. This latest project forms part of EDF's Electricity Storage Plan, which aims to develop 10GW in new electricity storage resources globally by 2035. In 2018, EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US formed a joint-venture company – Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC to develop a lease area located off the coast of New Jersey. The company has also partnered with Masdar for eight renewable energy projects in the U.S.

Urban Windelen is Executive Director of the BVES Bundesverband Energiespeicher Systeme e.V., the German Energy Storage Systems Association. Windelen is a lawyer and has gained many years of national and international experience in the energy industry before he took the lead of the BVES in 2015. Since then, the association has grown rapidly to its current membership of more than 200.
As head of the BVES he successfully leads the work of the association for the system-oriented and market-driven development of the different energy storage technologies and the energy system. The association advocates fair political and legal framework conditions that enable the energy storage market to grow strongly.
Windelen has been able to achieve numerous successes at German and European level. Among the most outstanding achievements are the recognition of energy storage as a fourth pillar of the energy system (most recently in the EU Clean Energy Package and EU Green Deal), facilitations for sector coupling in Germany and for multi-use applications in Germany.
The legal clarification after the prevention of the so-called 'NABEG' amendment that power-to-X technologies will not be charged with grid fees for power conversion, or the amendment of §61 EEG 2017 in favor of the mixed use of energy storage facilities are examples of the breakthroughs at the German level, so that energy storage facilities can better tap their full potential for the energy system.
At the EU level, Windelen has done an outstanding job in enabling the introduction of a definition of energy storage for all EU member states via the EU Clean Energy Package. He successfully supported the focus shift to hydrogen as an energy storage medium and the possibilities for CO2 reduction with flexible sector coupling within the EU hydrogen strategy. He has given the users of energy storage systems from trade and industry a loud voice in the European Industrial Strategy, and recently successfully advocated the strengthening of prosumers in the EU Clean Energy Package, to name a few milestones.

Vinod Khosla is an Indian American entrepreneur, investor and technologist. He is the founder of Khosla Ventures, a firm focused on assisting entrepreneurs to build impactful new energy and technology companies.
Khosla is one of the investors in the Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEC) group led by Microsoft-co-founder Bill Gates that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero by financing emerging clean energy technology. BEC was launched alongside Mission Innovation, a multi-billion clean energy research and development initiative on the opening day of the UN climate change summit in Paris.
Khosla Ventures invested an additional $15 million in series B funding round of Liquid Metal Battery Corporation (LMBC), an early-stage company working to develop and commercialize a new battery technology that will revolutionize grid-scale electricity storage. By decoupling power supply and power demand, the LMB will enable widespread use of sustainable energy sources and development of more efficient power systems. LightSail Energy, a developer of breakthrough energy storage technology incubated by Khosla Ventures raised $37.3 million in series D funding led by San Francisco investor Peter Thiel.
Khosla's goals in funding new ventures are: 'work and learn from fun and knowledgeable entrepreneurs, build impactful companies by leveraging innovation and spend time with a partnership that makes a difference'.
Khosla did electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, and went to the U.S. to get a master's degree in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. His startup dreams led him to Silicon Valley, where he received a master's degree in business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a non-profit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals that was founded in 1992 and has more than 40 chapters in nine countries today. He is also a founding board member of the Indian School of Business (ISB).

Wang Chuanfu founded BYD Co Ltd in 1995 as a rechargeable battery manufacturing factory. The diversified business conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, is into batteries, energy storage, EV manufacturing, solar PV, rail transit, and electronics.
Wang's technical acumen and foresight caught the exploding mobile boom in'90s when BYD started manufacturing cell phone batteries. Then, the company did a strategic entry into the laptop battery market. Within ten years BYD became the fourth largest manufacturer worldwide for rechargeable batteries.
Today, BYD is the world's leading producer of rechargeable batteries: NiMH, Li-ion and NCM batteries. It has 3GE-scale lithium battery factories with a goal to reach 60GWh annual production of batteries by 2020. Relying on the advanced iron-phosphate battery technology, the company can meet the requirements for energy storage, peak-load shifting and peak load/frequency regulation.
BYD has developed a new business model know as PV+storage which has significantly reduced the cost of solar module production. BYD PV supplies products with a service life of up to 50 years and power degradation down to 0.3 percent to more than 30 countries and regions in six continents.
Wang is dedicated to creating a truly zero-emission ecosystem through electrification of fleet and commercial vehicles. BYD's commercial vehicles cover ten market segments: buses, coaches and battery-electric taxis; logistics, construction and sanitation vehicles; vehicles for warehousing, port, airport and mining operations.
BYD India was established in 2007 in Chennai. It is stepping up its engagement in India in the entire electric mobility chain and electronics. It plans to expand to manufacture electric buses by almost tripling the capacity and stepping up its battery assembly line.
BYD in a joint venture with Goldstone Electra set up a manufacturing plant in Telangana with 35 percent localizations as per FAME scheme for supply of electric buses in India. It recently launched the all-new pure electric T3 MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) and T3 minivan in the Indian market.

Yet-Ming Chiang has been instrumental in the development of new materials for energy storage, transfer, and power for different devices and vehicles. Apart from being a professor at MIT, he is also Chief Scientist at Form Energy - a company that develops long-duration grid storage solution, and at 24M Technologies - a company that is re-inventing lithium-ion battery design and manufacturing.
Chiang aims to transform energy production and delivery through high value, low-cost energy storage solutions that significantly improve the operational reliability, economics and efficiency of electric power systems. His research has majorly impacted the transportation sector, as the global demand for lithium-ion automotive batteries continues to grow. He believes that affordable energy storage is a critical factor in enabling a sustainable, clean and thriving future for the planet.
After becoming the youngest tenured professor in the history of the Department of Material Sciences and Engineering in 1990, Chiang accomplished a breakthrough in lithium-ion batteries that led to a new generation of batteries with exceptional power, safety and life. He has published more than 280 scientific articles and holds more than 80 U.S. patents.
He has received The Economist's 'Innovation Award' (Energy and the Environment category), the Electrochemical Society's Battery Division's 'Battery Technology Award', the Materials Research Society's Plenary Lectureship, R&D 100 and R&D100 Editor's Choice Awards, and the American Ceramic Society's Corporate Achievement, Ross Coffin Purdy, R.M. Fulrath, and F.H. Norton Awards.
He has co-founded six companies to commercialize research from his laboratory, and serves on numerous government and academic advisory committees and study panels. In 1987, he co-founded American Superconductor Corporation, which today manufactures high-temperature superconductor wire products and wind energy equipment.
Chiang brought his MIT research on nanoscale olivine cathodes to commercial impact by co-founding A123 Systems in 2001. The company pioneered a new category of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LFP) with improved power, safety, and life compared with previous technology.

Johnson Yu has been a key player in China's escalating energy storage industry, first beginning in 2006 when his vanadium flow battery (VRF) company was awarded the tender in one of the world's largest projects of its kind - the Zhangbei Hybrid Wind and Solar Pilot Demonstration.
His next venture provided ancillary services to China's national grid operator State Grid. It was during this time he also instituted the China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA), that works diligently with Chinese industry leaders and government agencies, and cooperates with foreign companies and alliance organization partners. The CNESA is presently organized into four divisions: its alliance members, experts committee, research think tank, and financial services assistance.
The mission of the Alliance is to influence government policy in order to encourage healthy growth of renewables through the use of competitive and reliable energy storage systems.
China's energy storage market is starting to take off. The opportunities are staggering: as per industry research, China's advanced energy storage market will reach $8.7 billion by 2025.
Energy storage applications in China can be categorized into grid-side, behind-the-meter, renewable integration, and ancillary services applications, with the behind-the-meter market leading primarily. This accounted for 44 percent of new capacity in 2019. Renewables integration, ancillary services, and grid-side applications were nearly equal in terms of new capacity added in 2019, at 17 percent, 20 percent, and 19 percent, respectively.
China's energy storage industry is currently in a transitional stage, where we are seeing a move from primarily demonstration projects to more commercialized projects.