Jul 27, 2021
On July 14, 2021, The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) hosted its second, successful virtual event in a series on the transformational potential of energy storage, utilizing top-tier energy experts who discussed how to harness the power of energy storage through technology innovation, finance, and policy.
“Keeping the Power On: The Business Case for Emerging Energy Storage Technologies” hosted over 250 participants and was considered a resounding success. The event, part of the Global Energy Storage Program Learning Platform, brought together participants interested in learning about new energy storage technologies, provided a forum where they could speak with and ask questions to experts, and finally it gave interested parties the resources and tools necessary to assess the business case for a broad range of storage technologies and contexts.
Daniel Morris, CIF Senior Climate Change Specialist, believes, “This event showcased the technologies that will build the next phase of clean energy solutions in developing countries. We understand how critical sustainable energy storage solutions are to getting countries onto a zero-carbon development pathway. Now we need to connect the different interested stakeholders: policymakers, investors, technical experts, and developers. These learning platform events help educate, inform, and jumpstart new collaborations that can accelerate clean energy transformations.”
During the four-hour event, energy storage technology experts from the U.S. Department of Energy discussed multiple technology options and answered specific questions from event participants. A diverse panel of experts then provided concrete tools and resources to help decisionmakers build a specific business case based on conditions on the ground. And in breakout sessions, participants were able to review actual projects and research and receive insight from project implementers on how specific contexts, regions, and needs influenced the technologies used. It was an important opportunity to share and understand where new energy storage technologies could be used to their best advantage at a time when more countries are looking to storage as a solution to their long-term energy challenges.
For Stephen Hendrickson, Program Manager at the office of Technology Transitions for the US Department of Energy, “The…event was an excellent opportunity to connect all of the research and development activity being done across the Department of Energy and its national labs with external opportunities to demonstrate and deploy that technology in an international context.”
Ultimately, “Keeping the Power On: The Business Case for Emerging Energy Storage Technologies” achieved its three main goals and advanced the case for new energy storage technologies.
- Provided a forum where interested parties could learn about new energy storage technologies with real world examples
- Presented the opportunity for participants to engage with and ask questions to energy storage experts.
- Helped potential investors, policymakers and interested countries build and assess the business case for a broad range of storage technologies/contexts by providing key tools and resources.
This event is a component of a new global network and community of practice associated with the CIF’s Global Energy Storage Program (GESP). GESP bridges technology, financing, and policy gaps to develop new storage capacity, accelerate cost reduction, support integration of variable renewable energy into grids, and expand energy access for millions of people in developing countries. The program makes CIF the world’s largest multilateral fund supporting energy storage, building on over $400 million in existing storage support. GESP funding is expected to mobilize an additional $2 billion of public and private investments for these vital technologies.
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