CIC energiGUNE will once again bring the leaders of the European battery strategy to Vitoria-Gasteiz to analyse “the process of revolution in the sector”.

The Basque centre will hold the second edition of the conference on the European Battery Ecosystem, ‘BatSum23’, on 13 February at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Campus of the Euskadi Technology Parks, with the participation of the continent’s main strategic policy makers, such as Robert Dominko, member of the board of the European initiative BATTERY 2030+

The Conference will give space to strategic projects in the field of electric vehicles and energy storage, such as those led by BASQUEVOLT, Iberdrola, Ingeteam or CAF, and will serve as a framework for the appointment of Professor Michel Armand as Honorary Scientific Director of CIC energiGUNE

CIC energiGUNE, a leading Basque research centre in electrochemical energy storage, thermal energy storage and conversion and hydrogen technologies, will once again bring together the leaders of the European battery strategy in Vitoria-Gasteiz this year to “look back on the revolution” in the sector, three years after the first edition of ‘BatSum’ was held in Alava. The meeting will once again be attended by the main players in the sector, such as the world benchmark in solid-state batteries, Professor Michel Armand – who will be appointed Honorary Scientific Director of CIC energiGUNE at this meeting – and Robert Dominko, a researcher at the University of Ljubljana and member of the board of the European BATTERY 2030+ initiative.

“After the first ‘Battery Summit’ that we hosted in 2019, the time has come to review the achievements of what we call the ‘European battery revolution’,” said Nuria Gisbert, CEO of CIC energiGUNE. “To this end, we will have the presence of key players in this process, with the participation of benchmarks such as Innoenergy or VDI/VDE, as well as leading companies and projects at European level”, concluded the director of the Basque centre, a member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance-BRTA.

This second edition will be held under the title “Retrospective of a revolution”, and also aims to delve into the specific initiatives that, both in the public and private sectors, are taking shape. The day will begin with presentations by Robert Dominko, on the commitment of the Battery 2030+ initiative to the development of innovative actions at regional level within Europe; and by Johan Söderbom, head of Smartgrids and storage at Innoenergy, who will present the vision and projection of the battery sector in Europe in the global context. They will be joined by Wouter IJzermans, CEO of BEPA and Stefan Wolf, Team Leader at VDI-VDE, who will give their views on the challenges facing the European battery value chain as well as the future of Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) in this field.

This will be followed by two panel discussions, which will provide a vision of the future of the mobility and stationary storage sectors. Francisco Carranza, CEO of BASQUEVOLT, will take part in the first of these, together with Inés Anitua, CEO of AIC and the Basque Automotive Cluster, Soraya Romo, General Manager of BCARE and Txomin Nieva, Technology Director of CAF Power and Automation.

The second round table, focused on the situation and future of the stationary sector, will be attended by Jose Ignacio Hormaeche, general manager of the Basque Energy Cluster; Igor Cantero, general manager of Batiq; Pilar González, representative of the Innovation Department of Perseo-Iberdrola; Jon Ander López, product manager for energy storage applications at Jema Energy; and Josu Arrinda, technical director of the BESS area at Ingeteam.

Appointment of Michel Armand

After the two round tables and the intervention of an institutional representative of the Ministry of Industry, the official appointment of Professor Michel Armand, the “father” of solid state batteries and a leading researcher at the Basque centre, as honorary scientific director of CIC energiGUNE will take place. The appointment will be made by the Basque Government’s Minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia, who will then present the progress made in the battery value chain in the Basque Country.
The second edition of ‘BatSum23’ will be officially opened on Monday 13 February at 9:00 am by Nuria Gisbert, Director General of CIC energiGUNE; Ana Oregi, Councillor Delegate of the Department of Territory and Climate Action; and Pilar García de Salazar, Deputy General and Deputy for Economic Development and Territorial Balance of the Provincial Council of Alava.

The holding of this meeting in Vitoria-Gasteiz for the second year not only consolidates an event that aims to position the Basque Country as an essential point of reference for batteries in Europe, but also provides a unique opportunity to obtain a global vision of the initiatives that are being developed and of the near future. All this, moreover, in collaboration with the agents that drive the European battery ecosystem, such as BATTERY 2030+.