ESI 2013 is the first energy storage conference and exhibition in India to focus exclusively on applications, customers and deal making.

The debut of Energy Storage India (ESI) Conference and Exhibition in Mumbai attracted 306 delegates from 12 countries worldwide. Jointly organized by Messe Düsseldorf India, Customized Energy Solutions and powered by the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), ESI 2013 is the first energy storage conference and exhibition in India to focus exclusively on applications, customers and deal making. The event provided important impetus for the Indian energy and power industry.

The 14 exhibitors at the Energy Storage India Exhibition showcased innovative technologies and applications in the energy storage sector. The exhibitors included Panasonic, Dresser-Rand, EEI Italy, FIAMM Sonick, Ecoult, Eaton Technologies, Aartech Solonics, Imergy Energy (Erstwhile Deeya Energy), Local Grid Technologies, India Energy Exchange, India Smart Grid Forum, Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) and Customized Energy Solutions.

The event started with three workshops providing delegates with a broad overview of various energy storage technologies as well as opportunities for solar and wind storage integration. The technologies addressed in the workshops and conference spanned the complete range including electrochemical batteries such as advanced lead acid, Li-Ion, flow batteries, ultra capacitors, flywheels, sodium nickel chloride, sodium sulfur, nickel iron as well as other forms of energy storage technologies such as pumped hydro, compressed air energy storage, thermal and hydrogen storage.

The exhibitors at ESI 2013 were pleased with their participation and reported excellent meetings with high-caliber delegates. In addition to finding project opportunities, key meetings were set up with some of the leading manufacturing companies in India for exploring joint manufacturing and licensing arrangements for introducing the latest technologies in India. Due to the growth expected in the Indian renewable energy sector and the presentation of their pioneering product innovations exhibitors expect a busy post-show business.

The two-day conference began with a keynote presentation by Dr. Rahul Walawalkar (Executive Director, IESA) who provided the vision and roadmap for making India a key player in the global energy storage industry while addressing various infrastructure challenges for residential usage. The conference covered the complete range of opportunities for advanced storage technologies in India including renewable integration, rural electrification, microgrids, smart cities, utility and industrial applications as well as electric transportation. The conference also included key policy makers such as Reji Kumar Pillai (President of India Smart Grid Forum), Dr. P. C. Pant (Head of the Innovation and Energy Storage Research, Solar Energy Center, MNRE), Dr. Rahul Tongia (Advisor, ISGF), V. L. Sonavane (Member, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission) and Balwant Joshi (Idam Infra), Dr. Ketan Shukla (Former Chairman, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission) as well as Jayant Deo (Former MD, India Energy Exchange) who shared their inputs on the regulatory environment and need of energy storage in India. The potential user perspectives were also provided by leading players in the renewable industry from companies such as Suzlon, Tata Power Solar, Solar Energy Corporation, MSEDCL, Reliance Power, IL & FS and Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy in India (AEEE).

The conference also provided an opportunity for delegates to learn from the experiences of key international speakers including Ron Somers (USIBC, USA), Kylie Bell (AusTrade, Australia), Thomas Grigoleit (Germany Trade and Invest, Germany), Dr. Christopher Hebling (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Germany), Takaya Watanabe (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan), Brian Lee (BYD, China), Hanafusa (Panasonic, Japan), Laurence Grand-Clement (PersEE, France), Robert Stevenson (Ecoult, Australia), Albert Behr (Local Grid Technologies, Canada), Sorin Grama (Promethean Power Systems, USA), Stephen Fernands and Jacqueline DeRosa (Customized Energy Solutions, USA).

ESI 2013 also provided a platform for young entrepreneurs from India to present their ideas and solutions. They included Yashraj Khaitan (Gram Power), Ashish Gawade (Bottom of Pyramid Energy and Environmental Innovations) and Sham Patra (Naturetech Infra).

Energy Storage India is a part of the World of Energy Storage event program of Messe Düsseldorf, which also includes Energy Storage Europe to be held from March 25 - 27, 2014 in Düsseldorf (Germany), Energy Storage China to take place June 23 - 24, 2014 in Beijing and Energy Storage North America scheduled from September 30 - October 2, 2014 in San Jose. The Energy Storage India Conference and Exhibition will return December 3 - 5, 2014 at the Kempinski Ambience Hotel in New Delhi.

For further information on visiting or exhibiting at any of the Energy Storage events of Messe Düsseldorf, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; Fax: (312) 781-5188; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit our web site http://www.mdna.com; Subscribe to our blog at http://blog.mdna.com; Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/EnergyStorageNA

Participant Statements:

Robert Galyen, Chief Technical Officer-Contemporary, Amperex Technologies Ltd :

"I have attended a lot of events around the world for the last 10-15 years as a senior executive in other corporations and for the first time for a program like this, it is well organized and everything has come out quite well. I find some really good quality speakers at this conference. In fact, everybody was so excited that we kept running over time. People were really engaged and they were excited about what they are doing. I think the conference was extremely well attended considering it is the very first one, so I would expect the next one to be even bigger because people now know what the quality of the show really is!"

Brian Li, Business Director, New Energy Business Department, BYD Co. Ltd.:

"It was a good platform to get to know more about Indian companies. BYD will definitely take part in ESI 2014. We initiated good contacts with Indian companies like Tata, Mahindra and Reliance."

Takaya Watanabe, General Manager, Business Development and ICT Solutions, Energy and Environment, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.:

"I was very impressed by the range of subjects and also the variety of people giving speeches and discussions. I would like to come back again next year."

Robert Stevenson, Engineering Communications Manager, Ecoult:

"We will absolutely come again to Energy Storage India, it was a fantastic show! All the presentations have been extraordinary. It is incredible to see the range of storage technologies and entrepreneurs all coming together in this space where everyone's common goal is to work out how energy storage would work. It is great to see the energy storage market at this conference. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to meet potential clients, potential partners and all sorts of people from all over the world."

Albert Behr, VP Marketing, Local Grid Technologies:

"It is the right platform to be here to do business. We met people from Tata and Reliance and they are very critical partners for our success, if we are going to enter this market. This was a great event and we are definitely going to be here again next year. I hope this is going to be even larger and we can participate more in it. I will bring more companies from Canada as well!"

Dr. Rahul Tongia, Advisor, India Smart Grid Forum:

"It has been a very good coming together of people from different domains and different disciplines which are really needed to make sustainable transformations. The conference successfully managed to get diverse viewpoints together in terms of technology, government, policy, consumer and business being discussed at one platform."

Thomas Grigoleit, Director of Renewable Energies and Resources, Germany Trade and Invest GmbH:

"The conference was very interesting and featured high level speakers with very interesting presentations and we learned about the potential storage opportunities not only in India but also South Asia. We met a lot of Indian companies, policy makers as well as international players. It was a good platform to meet and network!"

Matthew Shruhan, Manager – Policy Advocacy, US India Business Council:

"It is a first of its kind event in India. A lot of US companies are working in energy storage and applications. We see a good opportunity for the US companies to come to India and potentially partner with Indian companies and may be even manufacturing these technologies in the country that will help speed up the pace of commercialization!"

Laurence Grand-Clement, President, PersEE:

"I was very pleased to be here! It is always a tough decision when you are coming from abroad to know whether you are going to the right event, spending three days with your busy schedule. I think it was three days very well invested! I was particularly impressed by the concentration of knowledge that we were able to get from different sessions. I felt very re-energized by the enthusiasm and the focus you could feel from the participants and speakers. I am very glad to be here!"