On January 23, 2018, the Chinese Academy of Sciences hosted a meeting on energy storage with distinguished guests Dr. Imre Gyuk, director of energy storage research at the United States Department of Energy, and Dr. Gary Yang, CEO of UniEnergy Technologies. Dr. Gyuk and Dr. Yang were met by China Energy Storage Alliance Chairman and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Engineering Thermophysics Deputy Director Chen Haisheng, China Energy Storage Alliance Deputy Chairman and Beijing Puneng General Manager Huang Mianyan, and CNESA Standing Council Representative and general manager of State Grid Electric Vehicle Service Company Wang Mingcai.
The meeting began with a presentation from Dr. Gyuk. Dr. Gyuk introduced energy storage technologies, the economics of energy storage, and provided case studies of various energy storage projects across the United States. Dr. Gyuk’s presentation highlighted the success of peakshaving and load shifting efforts in in California. He also highlighted the use of energy storage for grid resiliency in areas such as Puerto Rico and Florida, where recent hurricanes have caused severe power shortages. Dr. Gyuk noted the growth of energy storage projects, predicting a total of 2,045 MW total storage capacity in the United States by 2021. After the presentation, Dr. Gyuk took questions from meeting members.
Following Dr. Gyuk’s presentation, CNESA chairman and Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Engineering Thermophysics Deputy Director Chen Haisheng presented on energy storage market status and development opportunities in China. The presentation highlighted the decrease in energy storage technology costs, development of policies in support of energy storage, and highlighted project case studies across China. Deputy Director Chen‘s presentation was followed by a brief discussion before the breaking of the meeting.
The meeting provided an opportunity for information exchange between the United States and China, with attendants learning more about recent energy storage developments and projects of each other’s countries. The meeting also helped lay the groundwork for future international exchange, such as Sino-U.S. cooperative standardization efforts, project tracking, and more.
