Emerging Tech Radio

Gauri Singh, Deputy Director General of IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency, is a career bureaucrat with over 30 years of experience in policy formulation, implementation, and advocacy in renewable energy, sustainable development, and livelihoods. She has walked a long and fruitful path in the energy domain, but her most notable achievements, she has worked for the Government of India, where she led policy formation for India’s National Solar Mission, in 2010, and in Madhya Pradesh, where she provided strategic guidance for large sustainable development projects, with a strong focus on climate resilience. An alumnus of Delhi University with a major in Economics, Ms. Singh spoke to ETN Editor-in-Chief Ashok Thakur at the World Utilities Conference in Abu Dhabi, where she discussed her journey, female participation in energy, and ways the sector can attract more talent.

MATTER recently launched India’s first advanced all-electric motorbike with a gearbox, the motorbike meant for green and connected mobility of the future, aided by next generation technology. The e-bike has been designed and engineered in-house from the ground-up, with a consumer-centric product development approach focused on safety, security, reliability, and performance. Please listen in conversation with Mr Mohal Lalbhai, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, MATTER sharing his vision, journey & innovation behind this geared EV bike.

Please listen in Dr. Ranjith Krishna Pai, Scientist E & Director at Technology Mission division at DST briefing about mission innovation, focus areas & activities towards industry-academia collaboration. India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) is pleased to launch Industry Research & Development Fellowship Programme 2022 (IRDFP) call for applications under the DST Industry-Academia Fellowship Programme to Support academia-industry interactions in order to address industry‐informed challenges.

Heartiest Congratulations to Dr N. Kalaiselvi on her appointment as Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India’s largest research organisation. This makes her the first woman director general of India’s premier eight-decade-old research and development (R&D) organisation. Please listen in about Dr Kalaiselvi’s journey of climbing the leadership ladder at CSIR, her work & passion for lithium battery technology, projects and her message to young girls & women who are interested to make their carrier in emerging technology research & development area. Brining her earlier address at IESA’s ‘Women in Energy forum’; as the first woman director of the CSIR-CECRI, on this occassion.

EOSE got listed on NASDAQ via SPAC route in November 2020. The company has worked on the battery technology for over a decade and the core of the EOS energy storage systems is the zinc hybrid cathode battery technology, they call it as EOS Znyth. With 3-12 hours of discharge capability, immediate response time, and modular construction, the Eos systems can be scaled and configured for utility, C&I and other energy storage applications. Listen in the conversation with Mr Yashwanth Mahadevan – Vice President , APAC & Middle East region for EOS energy Enterprises; sharing insights on technology, applications, markets, projects & financing aspects.

There is increasing interest from private sector commercial & industrial companies to adopt sustainability practices and they are willing to reduce their carbon footprint. Some large corporates have started monitoring and measuring their scope 1, scope 2 & scope 3 emissions. Listen in to find out.. what all options are available for C & I segment, to adopt & maximize renewable energy in India and take target of RE100.

Please listen in the conversation with Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President, IITM Research Park about his journey, his passion for ''make in India'', starting of IIT Madras Research park, creating young entrepreneurs providing innovative solutions, nurturing start-ups for real world challenges, his views on battery swapping and also advice to young technocrats.

The India Energy Storage Week Conference is a one-of-a-kind learning and collaboration platform that brings together key policymakers, innovators, thought leaders, researchers, leading companies, government agencies and stakeholders from around the world to discuss the policies framework, market transformation strategies, and technologies and business-model driven transformations. We welcome all the dignitaries & delegates to the conference. Listen to Honorable Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari addressing delegates of IESW at New Delhi.

Listen to Mr. Vikram Handa, Managing Director Epsilon Carbon Pvt Limited Sharing his experience of building Epsilon carbon, a leading manufacturer of coal tar derivatives and India's only backward-integrated company with a dedicated source of raw materials. He shares about plant manufacturing capacity, experience of customer acquisition, supplying & qualifying raw material, his R&D facility for testing as well as global partnerships, investments and his plan for 2025 & beyond. Mr. Handa is also Chairperson of India Battery Supply Chain Council, initiative by IESA.

On the background of recent disturbing EV fire incidences, it is important to understand what can trigger the fire in lithium batteries. Everyone involved in EV eco- system should take responsibility of safety first and make sure that consumers do not lose the confidence in the cleaner mobility. Listen to Mr Stefan Louis explaining the WHY, WHEN, WHAT about EV batteries and EV fires. Safety starts from the right cell selection, cell testing, verification, proper battery pack design including thermal management, battery pack assembly, battery management system, pack testing , proper through integration with electric vehicle, to proper shipping & handling. it is a collective responsibility of all the industry to make sure the transition towards cleaner mobility happens smoothly, safely, and responsibly.

Listen to Archana Bhatnagar, Director - Sales & Project Development at Wartsila India Pvt Ltd, sharing her journey, her role from planning to commercial operations for new projects in India & Wartsila’s role in meeting the world’s increased demand for energy in a sustainable way. She asks new women entrants not to get bogged down just thinking about work life balance, but to start the journey & things will fall in place if they are willing to make it work.

UNIDO's FLCTD Project facilitates identification of innovative low-carbon technologies in India and provides financial support up to US $50,000 for validation and its commercialization. Listen to Mr. Sandeep Tondon, sharing his experience leading FLCTD program, technology verticals, innovation challenge process, funding allocation, validation & benefits to the winners. Congratulations to all the 59 winners of FLCTD challenge! Special mention to winners of Electrical Energy Storage Challenge vertical: VFlow Tech, Log9 materials, Offgrid Energy labs, Supriya charging Infrastructure, Cancrie, Cell Propulsion and GoVidut Mobility. Customized Energy Solutions is a proud partner with FLCTD for Innovation challenge in Electrical Energy Storage technology.

As India is on the verge of adoption of energy storage systems in a big way, it is important to understand safety standard requirements of these systems right at the start of the journey for the smooth adoption and operation of the systems. Listen to Dr Judy Jeevarajan, Vice President & Executive Director, Electrochemical Safety Research Institute at Underwriters Laboratories sharing her journey in electrochemical safety area, how standards are formed, how UL certifications works, importance of having standards and right testing methods before launching any product, enforcement of standards, trainings and collaboration with IESA.

Mr. Achal Sondhi, Vice President - Growth, at Fluence for APAC region shares about company’s vision, growth strategy, experience of installation & commissioning of energy storage projects at various parts of the world, learnings with problem solving, taking care of safety & standards, trends of energy storage projects as well as financing such projects. IESA is working to develop vision document for setting storage target in India to highlight the policy and regulatory efforts required to bring out the necessary momentum in Energy Storage deployment in India.

2021 was the year of many industry-advancing announcements, and a year where India Energy Storage Alliances’ (IESA), long-standing efforts to transform India into a global manufacturing hub for advanced energy storage technologies took a big leap forward. Listen in some of the hi-lights of 2021 from India. Wishing all our listeners happier, healthier, cleaner & greener 2022! Stay connected, Stay Safe!!

With India’s focus on Advance chemistry cell battery manufacturing, the India battery supply chain council aims to develop a holistic, sustainable & robust ecosystem for the supply chain of batteries in the country. On this background, we bring you a special interview of Mr. Simon Moore; MD, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence talking about lithium price trend, importance of value chain, the quality & quantity balance in the ecosystem & much more. Please listen in the interested interview conducted by Mr. Ashok Thakur, Chief editor of ETN .

Mr. Lars Carlstorm, founder & CEO of Italvolt; sharing his journey of entrepreneurship of four decades, ups & downs, identifying opportunities, creating opportunities and some practical advice to new entrepreneurs.

Mr. Lars Carlstorm, founder & CEO of Italvolt; talking about his vision, decision, investment, site selection & plan of building one of the largest gigafactories in Europe.

On the background of SECI’s BESS bid document, industry is wondering if DISCOMs will sign battery storage procurement agreement. Please listen to Mr. Praveer Sinha, MD & CEO Tata Power, implementer & practitioner of India’s first grid scale project, talking about the experience & plan for adding more renewables along with energy storage.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI), Gov of India has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to invite bidders for setting up manufacturing facilities under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to promote Advance Chemistry Cell (ACC) ACC manufacturing in the country. This is an important step to develop greenfield giga-scale advance cell manufacturing for various end use applications and promotion of diverse energy sources, to ensure overall energy security for the nation in the long run.