Energy Storage North America to Host Third Annual California Germany Bilateral Energy Conference

SAN DIEGO - The Third Annual California-Germany Bilateral Energy Conference (CGBEC), a collaboration between the California Energy Commission and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, will be held November 5, 2019, in San Diego. This conference will highlight key energy policy drivers and challenges for California and Germany and provide a platform to discuss experiences and lessons learned.

The CGBEC will take place alongside the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) Conference & Exhibition, the most influential gathering of policy, technology and market leaders in energy storage in North America. CGBEC and ESNA will provide an unprecedented opportunity for policy makers, think tanks, developers, utility executives, energy users, industry representatives, and other stakeholders from around the world to engage on real solutions and applications, specifically energy storage, in the transition to a clean energy future.

Germany and California, which are the fourth and fifth largest economies in the world, respectively, are frontrunners in the energy transition. Renewables, which are the leading power source in Germany, account for 41 percent of the country’s electricity mix, while California is powered by more than 34 percent renewables. Germany plans to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2038; California has committed to a fossil-free power sector by 2045.

“We expect to move forward with the electrification of nearly everything as we eliminate the use of fossil fuels in California. Energy storage is one of the foundational technologies that will help us power this new, clean electric grid,” said California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild.

“While the decarbonization of the power sector is on track in Germany, we need innovative technologies and solutions across sectors such as energy storage and power fuels (synthetic fuels made with renewable energy) in order to achieve the necessary overall emission reductions,” said German State Secretary for Energy, Andreas Feicht. “International cooperation is key for reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement more efficiently and faster. With our collaboration with California and this year's co-location with ESNA, we want to facilitate mutual learning and sharing of experiences."

Janice Lin, co-founder and chair of ESNA, said the organization is honored to host CGBEC. Lin is also an advisory council member on the German American Chamber of Commerce.

“This year the theme of ESNA is All About Innovation: Technology, Business Models, and Markets.Germany and California are global leaders in market innovation required to enable an efficient, clean, affordable, and resilient grid,” Lin said. “The next step for the energy storage industry is to enable market tools that support the deployment of long duration and seasonal energy storage to complement 100percentclean energy production. That is why convening ESNA and CGBEC are so critical. We need bold policy makers in the same room as industry, solving problems together.”

Adelphi and the German American Chamber of Commerceare also partners in this year’s CGBEC.

ESNA’s 7thannual conference is being held at the San Diego Convention Center from November 5 to 7.

Key notes:

• Mr. Raj Apte, Google X
• Ms. Alicia Barton, New York State Energy  Research and Development Authority
• Mr. Ernest Ciorra, Enel
• Ms. Ramya Swaminathan, Malta Inc.

*Excerpt from Energy Storage Europe News Release. For more details, please visit ESE website.