Exponential energy storage deployment is both expected and needed in the coming decades, enabling our nation’s just transition to a clean, affordable, and resilient energy future. This VIRTUAL public summit will convene and connect national and regional thought leaders across industry, government, communities, and the research enterprise to catalyze solutions and partnerships around specific challenges to America’s energy storage future.
To illuminate this ongoing work and catalyze partnerships and innovative solutions among industry, national labs, academic researchers, and beyond, participants will have the opportunity to spotlight their capabilities, IP, and start-up companies in an Energy Storage virtual showcase. We believe this showcase will help weave together this remarkable ecosystem, connect new partners, and transcend the traditional silos of the energy storage landscape that have been stifling our progress.
| Day 1: America’s Battery Production Revolution: From Resource to Recharge America is falling behind on the battery production curve, with implications to both national and economic security. Day 1 will focus on leveraging policy, science, and technical innovations across materials, supply chains, and production processes to revolutionize a domestic battery ecosystem and realize America’s full potential, including creating equitable clean-energy jobs in the U.S. |
| Topics |
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| 9:00 am PT/12:00 pm ET Welcome & Keynotes |
| 9:15 am PT/12:15 pm ET Fireside Chat: The Big Picture Energy storage holds the key to transitioning to a decarbonized economy, and the batteries of today, while ubiquitous, cannot get us there. We need to innovate battery R&D, jumpstart domestic battery manufacturing, and encourage widespread deployment to meet our clean energy goals. Is there a shared vision between the federal government and industry on what success looks like for the U.S. with regards to battery R&D, supply chains, production, and deployment? What will a robust domestic battery manufacturing capability mean for our economic and national security? Can we leverage public-private partnerships for success? What are the major milestones we need to hit to be successful, and what are the top challenges to getting there? |
| 9:45 am PT/12:45 pm ET Panel: Building out a Domestic Lithium Resource Our rapidly advancing lithium extraction science and technology presents an enormous opportunity to build out a national lithium resource for batteries. How is the U.S. positioned globally for this opportunity (resource, technology, etc.)? What are the main challenges to sustainable and affordable extraction in current and future operations across different lithium resources? What infrastructure (e.g., policy, market, workforce, partnerships, environment justice and equity) do we need to create or leverage to realize the full scale of this opportunity across the U.S.? |
| 10:15 am PT/1:15 pm ET Panel: Securing a U.S. Battery Supply Chain: Materials & Processing The National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries envisions a secure battery materials and technology supply chain that supports long-term U.S. economic competitiveness, good-paying jobs for American workers, enables decarbonization, advances social justice, and meets national security requirements. While the previous panel discussed securing domestic access to lithium in particular, this conversation considers how to support the growth of a U.S. materials and processing base able to meet domestic battery manufacturing demand. What are the benefits and challenges of a domestic battery supply chain and are there lessons learned from other sectors? What is the scope of battery precursors and can we ameliorate the challenges imposed by critical minerals (e.g., cobalt, nickel)? How can we build a foundation to a domestic battery supply chain that supports rather than strips the environment and meets today’s security challenges? What innovative S&T (e.g., with regards to recycling and second use, artificial intelligence and machine learning, autonomous labs) and policies are needed to meet the unique logistics needs of the materials and processing portions of a sustainable supply chain? |
| 10:45 am PT/1:45 pm ET — Break |
| 11:00 am PT/2:00 pm ET Panel: Home-grown Production: Leveraging U.S. Manufacturing Innovations U.S. innovation in battery manufacturing — bridging from material processing, component production, and cell to pack manufacturing — is a critical step in deploying next-generation batteries with a focus on cost, quality, reliability, and safety. This panel will discuss the critical role of domestic manufacturing in establishing a sustainable supply chain for energy storage, the opportunities to accelerate the discovery-to-deployment timeline via innovation to the “science of manufacturing,” the potential to lower manufacturing CapEx and increase productivity, and examples of early successes. |
| 11:30 am PT/2:30 pm ET Panel: Next-Gen U.S. Gigafactories: Shifting from Import to Export The U.S. has fallen behind on the battery production curve. Integral to completing a domestic battery supply chain capable of meeting the energy storage demands of a decarbonized economy is the need for a strategy leading to U.S. gigafactories churning out next-gen batteries. This will bring clean energy manufacturing jobs and stimulate the demand signal for the rest of the domestic supply chain, from the extraction of lithium and up the value chain. This panel will discuss projected demand, current and future gigafactory construction plans worldwide, the challenges of scale up, and needed regional-to-federal partnerships and policies across industry, manufacturing, finance, and the research ecosystem. |
| 12:00 pm PT/3:00 pm ET Community Brainstorm — Jumpstarting the Future: Seeding the Battery Production Roadmap Taking the next step on the National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries, this session will invite participants to consider the opportunities, challenges, and proposed solutions of one of the earlier sessions — and draw from their own expertise — to explore potential milestones, partnerships, and pathways toward building a robust domestic energy storage production ecosystem from lab to market. Sessions below will run in parallel. Building out a Domestic Lithium Resource Securing a U.S. Supply Chain: Materials and Processing Home-grown Production: Leveraging U.S. Manufacturing Innovations NextGen U.S. Gigafactories: Shifting from Import to Export |
| 12:45 pm PT/3:45 pm ET — Recharge Break Need a break? Take 15 minutes to step away from the computer and do some light yoga led by Berkeley Lab employees to “recharge” your own batteries. |
| 1:00 pm PT/4:00 pm ET First stop in the LBNL/SLAC-led virtual field trip series, “Exploring the world unplugged: the secret life of energy storage” This exciting “field trip” to the International Space Station will be a chance to talk to an astronaut about the realities of living and working in space and the recently completed battery upgrade missions. We’ll also discuss how the ISS has been and continues to be a driver for R&D that focuses on novel advancements in energy solutions and advanced manufacturing in space. |
| 1:25 pm PT/4:25 pm ET Panel: Leapfrogging: Roadmap to a U.S. Battery Future Informed by panelist and participant input from previous sessions, this distinguished group will consider the energy storage science and technology, market and finance, and policy and regulation next steps needed to fully realize the vision of a robust battery production ecosystem in the U.S. |
| 1:55 pm PT/4:55 pm ET Day One Wrap-Up |
| 2:00 pm PT/5:00 pm ET — Break |
| 2:10 pm PT/5:10 pm ET Themed Happy Hour: At the Nexus of Energy Justice & Energy Storage Come sip on a virtual beverage and network with industry professionals and other senior diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders and ambassadors talking about their latest environmental, energy, and social justice efforts across the country with relevance to energy storage. There will be various energy/social justice related virtual themed rooms designed to increase your knowledge in Energy Justice, or you can simply mix, mingle, and chat with other conference attendees to increase your professional network. The purpose of this happy hour is to learn more about energy equity, and build allies and partnerships with other like minded participants within a fun virtual platform called Kumospace (optional user guide on how to navigate the networking platform.) Day 2: Driving Accelerated Energy Storage Discovery-to-Deployment for Decarbonization The clock is ticking on the global clean energy transition. Day 2 will expand CalCharge’s annual Bay Area Battery Summit ecosystem to a national stage, with a focus on bridging the diverse stakeholders across science to systems to accelerate equitable national energy storage deployment in all relevant sectors: the evolving grid, manufacturing, resilience, transportation, and buildings. Like last year, the focus will broaden beyond batteries to energy storage at large. The focus of Day 2 is on catalyzing partnerships, so come prepared to share, connect, and engage. Today’s sessions will focus on a series of decarbonization opportunities: Evolving Grid (including long duration energy storage), Transportation (including recycling & second-use), Resilience, Buildings (including system integration) and Energy-Intense Industry (including thermal energy storage and hydrogen). Additionally, Energy Justice & Equity will be embedded in all areas. Topics 9:00 am PT/12:00 pm ET Welcome & Keynotes 9:15 am PT/12:14 pm ET How to Partner with DOE & the National Labs The Dept. of Energy’s National Labs — a $30 billion annual investment in our nation’s R&D ecosystem — offer many kinds of ways to engage with industry partners. From technical advice to conversations protected by NDAs, to sample testing at state-of-the-art user facilities, the Labs offer accelerated research and development via access to its world-renowned experts, specialized research facilities, and transformational technologies. This short video will introduce just a few of the Labs’ amazing capabilities in energy storage science and technology. 9:20 am PT/12:20 pm ET Getting from Here to There: Setting the Stage on Energy Storage Needs and Challenges A series of lightning talks will lay out the big picture challenges and opportunities for the major energy storage use cases, aligned with national imperatives. Participants are then invited to choose one topic to further explore in breakout panels. Evolving Grid Transportation Resilience Buildings Energy-Intense Industry 10:10 am PT/1:10 pm ET — Break 10:25 am PT/1:25 pm ET Pitchfest: Sharing Innovative Ideas from Science to Deployment Pitchfest participants compete to earn their spot in this National Energy Storage Summit session. Each speaker will propose exciting solutions to challenges discussed in topic areas of the previous session. Join the Pitchfest to hear from fellow attendees on the biggest and best ideas with a focus on accelerating deployment of all types of energy storage solutions (science and technology, policy and regulation, markets) for a better future. More Information and How to Participate 11:25 am PT/2:25 pm ET Collaboration Cycles: Initiating Connections to Accelerate Solutions To encourage collaborations, you’ll be able to apply to a special $20,000 Collaboration Seed Fund (special thanks to University of California) after the event to help accelerate ideas and your new partnerships from this session (meetings + roundtables). We’re offering matchmaking and time on the agenda to create connections in order to catalyze partnerships. Want to meet someone you saw on the event platform’s “Networking” tab, on the agenda, in the Showcase, or during the PitchFest? This is your chance to meet! Everyone has three 15-min slots (Charge-Discharge-Charge!) to explore potential collaborations.If that’s not for you, please join one of our “themed” roundtables with co-hosts moderating the group discussion — a great opportunity to discuss industry’s needs and how researchers can help, new science and tech that could change the industry landscape in years to come, and much more. Roundtable A: Accelerating development and deployment of energy storage technologies with artificial intelligence and machine learning — Focusing on ways in which data, algorithm development, and machine learning can play a part in developing completely new energy storage technologies as well as in optimizing and improving today’s existing solutions. Jens Hummelshoej (Toyota Research Institute) + Anubhav Jain (LBNL) Roundtable B: Characterizing energy storage technologies via access to DOE national user facilities — Advanced operando characterization techniques available at DOE national user facilities can provide valuable insight into how materials behave and evolve in energy storage technologies, improving our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms at play and leading to intelligently designed solutions to technological problems. Shannon Ciston (LBNL) + Kevin Stone (SLAC) Roundtable C: Circularity in Battery Recycling for a Sustainable Future — Discussing technology and partnership opportunities and challenges in battery recycling for circularity and supply chain resilience as we advance to TWh-scale deployment for transportation and grid use-cases. Brett Helms (LBNL) + Gao Liu (LBNL) + David Okawa (Redwood Materials) Roundtable D: Electrical Storage Enabled by Conversion into Hydrogen — Exploring hydrogen as a chemical storage medium (and its subsequent production/use) and associated hydrogen carriers that can be used for long-duration storage or transportation and even in other applications as an off road for excess energy generation. Tom Autrey (PNNL) + Adam Weber (LBNL) Roundtable E: Large-Scale Long-Duration Subsurface Energy Storage — Focusing on opportunities and challenges of thermal, mechanical (compressed air, gravity storage), and chemical (hydrogen) storage in porous media systems, along with analysis and demonstration approaches. Travis McLing (INL) + Curt Oldenburg (LBNL) Roundtable F: Leveraging Resources, IP, and Scientific Talent at National Labs: Ways to Partner with Us — Get an overview and ask questions about the partnership and IP mechanisms to unlock access to National Lab resources and expertise. Greg Halder (ANL) + Todd Pray (LBNL) Roundtable G: Lithium Valley — Successes and challenges building an inclusive, sustainable, clean energy economy centered around inland Southern California’s lithium resource Vijay Dhar (New Energy Nexus) + Rebecca Lee (New Energy Nexus) + Michael Whittaker (LBNL) 12:10 pm PT/3:10 pm ET Panel: Regulatory and Legislative Activities Spurring Energy Storage Deployment in the U.S. State and federal legislation and regulation will have a profound impact on the future of energy storage in the United States. This session will examine recent and anticipated legislative and regulatory actions to increase the domestic reach of energy storage. Panelists will touch on topics ranging from the recent Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to increased deployment of energy storage resources through expanded access to existing markets via FERC and state actions. 12:55 pm PT/3:55 pm ET — Recharge Break Need a break? Take 15 minutes to step away from the computer and do some stretches led by Berkeley Lab employees to “recharge” your own batteries. 1:10 pm PT/4:10 pm ET Community Brainstorm: “Working Towards Energy Storage Deployment Plans” Attendees will head into moderated themed breakout discussions to recommend near and long-term actions to accelerate energy storage deployment in support of decarbonization and resilience, starting from discovery to market at-scale, and accounting for the diverse partnerships and energy storage ecosystem members needed for equitable and timely solutions. Themes: Evolving Grid Transportation Resilience Buildings Energy-Intense Industry 1:55 pm PT/4:55 pm ET |