Lawrence Livermore Lab to Co-host Bay Area Battery Summit

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), New Energy Nexus and CalCharge are co-hosting the sixth annual Bay Area Battery Summit (BABS), to be held virtually on Nov. 17-18.

The two-day conference will focus on the implementation of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge (ESGC), more specifically, the development of batteries for transportation applications and for electric grid storage. This year’s conference will be the largest to date and will bring together investors, policymakers, researchers, more than 70 startup companies and a Nobel laureate, all with an interest in energy storage innovation.

“We are very excited to be hosting this year’s Bay Area Battery Summit with New Energy Nexus,” said Tony van Buuren, the deputy division leader for science and technology in LLNL’s Materials Science Division.  “BABS is a tremendous opportunity to showcase innovations in energy storage with stakeholders from the Bay Area, California and across the country.”

“This event brings together the brains of the Bay Area and the can-do players from the nation’s premier labs and innovative startups to share ideas with the goal of making ‘betteries’ for everyone,” said Danny Kennedy, president of CalCharge and CEO of New Energy Nexus.

On Nov. 17, LLNL Director Bill Goldstein will deliver the welcome address to the conference participants, followed by the key note address by Michael Pesin, DOE deputy assistant secretary for the Advanced Grid Research and Development Division. LLNL’s van Buuren will serve as a panelist for the “California Leads: Technologies Development and Transition in Energy Storage and Batteries” session. Another opening-day LLNL participant, Bill Bourcier, will be part of the “Lithium Valley: Supercharging the Value Chain in California and Across the Nation” session.

In addition, there will be a roundtable discussion with LLNL, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to identify ways companies can interface with the national labs and harness their unique resources.  

On Nov. 18, LLNL’s Brandon Wood, associate program leader for Hydrogen and Computational Energy Materials, will moderate the “Facility Flexibility, Efficiency and Value Enhancement” session, with John Grosh, department head for Computing Applications and Research participating as a panelist.

On Nov. 18, technology vendors/developers, buyers, financiers and ecosystem facilitators will share successes and examine the problem areas and regional needs for closing a deal in each use case.

Also, on Nov. 18, Nobel laureate and distinguished SUNY Binghamton professor, Stanley Whittingham, will present the closing keynote address.

New Energy Nexus is an international nonprofit that supports clean-energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators and networks. The organization started in California and operates programs in China, India, Southeast Asia and East Africa.

CalCharge is a battery and electro-chemical energy storage program comprised of startups and established companies, research institutions, laboratories and other groups.

Visit the BABS website for more information including a complete list of speakers and sessions.