Today, President Barack Obama gave remarks following a tour of Saft's high-tech battery manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, FL. The Energy Storage Association's (ESA) Executive Director, Matt Roberts, was invited by the White House in support of the energy storage industry and the Administration's efforts to promote storage technologies.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, President Barack Obama gave remarks following a tour of Saft's high-tech battery manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, FL. The Energy Storage Association's (ESA) Executive Director, Matt Roberts, was invited by the White House in support of the energy storage industry and the Administration's efforts to promote storage technologies.

"The Administration has been an active partner in the growth of the clean technology manufacturing sector and we greatly appreciate their support for the energy storage industry," said Matt Roberts, Executive Director of ESA. "Energy storage is changing how we generate, distribute, and use energy every day. By supporting the expansion of the energy storage industry, the Administration has helped to ensure that we continue to strengthen our grid infrastructure, and create a more resilient and flexible electric system for the benefit of American businesses and consumers."

Roberts continued, "A resilient electric grid is the backbone of our economy and energy storage empowers us to maintain that reliability while delivering smarter, more dynamic energy services, addressing peak demand challenges, and enabling the expanded use of renewable generation like wind and solar. Not all electrons are created equal, but energy storage ensures that we can make the best use of our entire electric system. A smarter grid means that regulators and utilities need to continue to modernize their approach to new technologies. Today, energy storage serves as generation, capacity, transmission, and distribution; defying traditional classification—and we need new market structures and regulations that can capture those multiple value streams in one system. That is the grid we need today to make best use of our most innovative advancements in energy technology."

Saft received federal funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Today, President Obama visited the company to see first-hand the benefit that the stimulus funding has provided to the company and region—bringing high paying jobs and foreign direct investment. Saft continues to be a leader in the industry and develop and enhance next-generation battery systems for deployment on the grid.

For more information about the energy storage industry and ESA's 26th Annual Conference and Expo in Charlotte, NC, from April 25-27 visit www.energystorage.org.

About Energy Storage Association

The Energy Storage Association (ESA), the national trade association for the energy storage industry, is the leading voice for companies that develop and deploy the energy storage technologies we rely on every day. ESA's mission is to promote, develop and commercialize competitive and reliable energy storage delivery systems for use by electricity suppliers and their customers. With more than 200 member organizations, ESA represent a diverse group of entities, including electric utilities, energy service companies, independent power producers, and technology developers deploying advanced batteries, flywheels, compressed air energy storage, thermal storage, pumped hydropower, supercapacitors, and component suppliers, such as power conversion systems.

The ESA Annual Conference and Expo is the industry's largest and fastest growing conference. To learn more about ESA or to register for the 2016 Conference in Charlotte, NC, from April 25-27 visit www.energystorage.org. Stay connected with ESA on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

About Saft

Saft is a world leading designer and manufacturer of advanced technology batteries for industry. The Group is the world's leading manufacturer of nickel batteries and primary lithium batteries for the industrial infrastructure and processes, transportation, civil and military electronics markets. Saft is the world leader in space and defense batteries with its Li-ion technologies, which are also deployed in the energy storage, transportation and telecommunication network markets. More than 4,000 employees in 19 countries, 14 manufacturing sites and an extensive sales network all contribute to accelerating the Group's growth for the future.

Saft batteries. Designed for industry. www.saftbatteries.com