Global leaders and heads of state have been convening in Dubai at COP28 to discuss energy solutions to combat climate change.
December 7, 2023
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Mohamed Kamaludeen
Mohamed Kamaludeen is the Director of Energy Storage Validation at the Office of Electricity (OE), U.S. Department of Energy. His team in OE leads the nation’s energy storage effort by validating and bringing technologies to market. This includes designing, executing, and evaluating a RD&D portfolio that accelerates commercial adoption of next-generation grid storage technologies.
Mohamed has more than 15 years of experience in the electric utility industry, specifically the electric system planning process, including engineering and design, forecasting, substation planning, and energy storage. He is a change management leader with a record of building energy storage businesses in a regulated utility environment. With a portfolio of utility-owned and third-party projects exceeding 120MW, Mohamed positioned Con Edison of New York to advance energy storage development.
Mohamed is known for developing novel clean energy projects at scale through strong private sector-led, government-enabled innovation and collaboration framework. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from The City University of New York and is currently an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University (NYC).
Global leaders and heads of state have been convening in Dubai at COP28 to discuss energy solutions to combat climate change. World decarbonization efforts–which have been a focus of the conference–necessitate a substantial shift toward clean, renewable energy sources, a crucial aspect of which involves energy storage. The U.S. the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) has taken important steps in supporting energy storage innovation that allow us to incorporate more renewable power on the grid system. An exciting step will be the opening of the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), a $75-million facility that will accelerate the research and development of battery technology.
Scheduled to open in 2024, the GSL will improve the development of new energy storage technologies and allow independent testing of up to 12 technologies annually, from Coin Cell to KW level testing. This is the first brick-and-mortar facility in which OE has invested, reinforcing the office’s commitment to providing research that will advance the role of energy storage in providing a clean, reliable, and affordable electrical grid for all Americans. At the GSL, multidisciplinary researchers and industry will have access to a world-class research center that lowers barriers to innovation and deployment of grid-scale energy storage. OE selected the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) campus in Richland, Washington as its location.
With the new capabilities of the GSL, OE’s energy storage research and DOE’s cross-cutting collaboration efforts will further ensure that grid-scale energy storage is able to meet the demands of this new era in electricity delivery. The facility will offer a plethora of pivotal capabilities, including:
- Independent testing and validation: The facility will evaluate energy storage materials, devices, and prototype systems under real-world grid conditions to ensure reliability and performance.
- Characterization abilities: The GSL offers a focus on technologies relevant to grid applications, enabling a targeted approach to energy storage development.
- Integration and collaboration: The GSL serves as a hub for collaboration between DOE, multidisciplinary academic researchers, and industry, to incorporate existing materials development in grid-scale energy storage deployment.
The GSL will develop and publish rigorous grid-performance standards and requirements through independent testing and validation that span the entire energy storage R&D development cycle, from basic materials synthesis to advanced prototyping.
Energy storage technology can be applied to areas with differing power and energy requirements. As part of OE's Energy Storage Program, the GSL will augment our efforts to perform research and development on a wide variety of storage technologies. Intended outcomes and benefits from this facility to the power industry and its customers include:
- Improved power quality and reliable electricity delivery
- Improved stability and reliability of transmission and distribution systems
- Increased use of existing equipment, deferring, or eliminating expensive taxpayer upgrades
- Improved availability and increased market value of distributed generation sources
- Improved value of renewable energy generation
This facility’s objectives also align with DOE’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge and respective $30 million in funding opportunities, which draws on the extensive research capabilities of the DOE National Laboratories, universities, and industry to accelerate the development of energy-storage technologies and sustain American global leadership in the energy storage technologies of the future with a secure domestic manufacturing supply chain.
Although COP28 concludes this month, global discussions addressing climate change will continue. The U.S. is actively advancing its commitment to combat climate change by modernizing the electric grid and prioritizing renewable energy. The GSL will emerge as a beacon of progress to augment the efforts from us in OE, strengthening the resilience of the grid to withstand the tests and challenges of today and tomorrow.