2014 Silicon Valley Energy Storage Symposium
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Microsoft Auditorium
1065 La Avenida Street
Mountain View, CA (View Map)
Description
The symposium engages key stakeholders in the energy storage marketplace around the latest developments, challenges and opportunities for customer-side storage, and how Silicon Valley is advancing innovation and uptake in this critical emerging market. Held annually since 2010, the symposium features presentations from national and state-level experts, high-profile solution providers, on-site energy storage customers and utility interests.
In particular, we examine local projects, initiatives, and offerings that are taking the energy storage industry forward. This year’s symposium is presented in association with Joint Venture’s Smart Energy Enterprise Development Zone (SEEDZ) initiative, a public/private collaboration focused on building the ‘smart energy’ network of the future in Silicon Valley.
Topics
California is expanding its mix of renewables on the grid from a current level of approximately 20% to 33% by 2020. As more intermittent wind and solar resources come on line, additional energy storage is viewed as critical for maintaining smooth, reliable delivery of power to customers.
Historically, most energy storage installations have been implemented by the utility. Customer-side energy storage systems have seen limited application because of the relative price of storage and difficulties in making a business case. Yet new market opportunities are emerging on the customer side of the meter, due to:
- energy market design changes at the federal and state levels
- new California targets and incentive programs for storage
- removal of critical regulatory barriers specific to energy storage
- storage technology advancements
- high penetrations of variable on-site renewable energy generation
In the midst of a changing storage landscape, Silicon Valley has a unique cluster of energy storage companies, and a number of innovative deployments of storage for demand-side electricity management. According to the Cleantech Group (i3.cleantech.com), Energy Storage has received over $830 million in venture capital investments over the last decade, a third of which was invested in Silicon Valley companies. At the symposium, we will hear from several local companies and energy customers about the technologies, business models, benefits and use cases for behind-the-meter storage applications.
The symposium will address the following questions:
- What new financial opportunities exist for integrating energy storage systems into operations at commercial facilities? What are the expected financial returns, critical value drivers, challenges, and potential risk mitigations?
- How do commercial facilities capture these new revenue and cost saving opportunities?
- What incentives are available?
- What are ancillary services and how does energy storage participate in CAISO’s ancillary services market?
- When and how are storage solutions being paired with distributed generation solutions such as solar PV? Why?
- Who are the market players that are facilitating and implementing energy storage projects?
- What role will EVs play in the overall customer-side energy storage equation?
- How has the industry evolved in the Bay Area over the last 20 years to become a global center of gravity for advanced energy storage technology?
- What are some examples of successful customer-side energy storage system deployments?
- How will the utility energy storage procurement targets affect customer-side installations?
Keynote Speaker
JB Straubel
CTO, Tesla Motors
Additional Featured Speakers

Jeff Anderson
President, CalCharge
Managing Director, CalCEF

Don Bray
Executive Director, Smart Energy Enterprise Development, Joint Venture Silicon Valley

Tom Flynn
Infrastructure Policy Development Manager, California ISO

Jesse Gossett
Senior Interconnection Manager, PG&E

Aloke Gupta
Energy Division Staff, California Public Utilities Commission

Harry Hobbs
Area Director of Engineering, InterContinental Hotels of San Francisco

Craig Horne
Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder, EnerVault Corporation

Janice Lin
Managing Partner, StrateGen Consulting LLC
Co-Founder and Director, California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA)

Andy Marshall
Director of Product Management, Primus Power

Tom McCalmont
President, McCalmont Engineering

Vic Shao
CEO, Green Charge Networks, California ISO

Andrew Tang
Sr. VP, Business Development, Greensmith Energy Management Systems

Jon Eric Thalman
Director, Regulatory Strategy and Support, Electric Transmission and Distribution, PG&E
Who Should Attend?
This event is intended for cleantech stakeholders in Silicon Valley. As the event is focused on customer-side energy storage, attendees with the following backgrounds may be particularly interested: campus facility directors, corporate energy managers, corporate property managers and real estate directors, renewable energy system integrators, project financers, other business operations and sustainability managers.
We also actively encourage students to attend, and have provided a discounted student registration rate.
Agenda
8:00 am – 9:00 am |
Registration, Exhibits & Light Breakfast |
9:00 am |
Program Begins |
Morning Session |
Welcome Overview of the Smart Energy Enterprise Development Zone (SEEDZ) Initiative Use Cases & Benefits for Customer-Side Energy Storage Keynote Presentation PANEL DISCUSSION: Distributed Energy Storage Interconnection |
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm |
Lunch & Exhibits |
Afternoon Session |
A National Perspective on Distributed Energy Storage Bay Area Advanced Energy Storage Technology Development & Deployment PANEL DISCUSSION: Customer Perspectives on Energy Storage Options and Solutions |
4:00 pm |
Adjournment |
The Silicon Valley/SEEDZ Energy Storage Symposium is planned in partnership with other local, regional and national organizations, as well as Joint Venture’s Energy Storage Advisory Committee.
Advisory Committee Members
- Kevin Chen, Applied Materials
- Aloke Gupta, California Public Utilities Commission
- Craig Horne, EnerVault
- Pramod Kulkarni, Customized Energy Solutions
- Janice Lin, California Energy Storage Alliance and Strategen Consulting
- David MacMillan, MegaWatt Storage Farms
- Dan Rastler, EPRI
- Tom Stepien, Primus Power
- Jon Eric Thalman, Pacific Gas & Electric