Ever since the existence of an electrical grid, grid operators have been looking for ways to safely and efficiently store energy so that it can be supplied and consumed on demand. The energy storage technology landscape is distributed across a variety of systems to ensure that we met our everyday energy needs. This includes mechanical storage like pumped hydro storage, flywheels, compressed air and electrochemical storage such as lead acid, advanced lead acid, lithium ion chemistries, sodium-based batteries, nickel-based batteries and flow batteries. Advancements in fuel cells and traditional thermal storage are also relevant to various emerging applications.
With energy storage considered to be the new entrant in the power and clean sector and increasingly becoming a reality, India needs to work upon if it wishes to take advantage of the energy storage growth opportunities. The Indian Energy Storage sector is at a nascent stage. Application areas like electric vehicles, charging infrastructure, microgrids, telecom tower, C&I applications, solar integration, microgrids, smart grids and smart cities will act as a major catalyst for energy storage adoption in India.
To address the need for skill development in the energy storage sector, IESA launched IESA academy in the year 2016. This initiative aims to organize training courses, workshops, and master-class with the support of other leading associations and universities of in the Indian energy storage industry. These skill development programs will eventually help companies to enter the energy storage market as well as help existing manufacturers expand their business in energy storage manufacturing by imparting their current/potential employees with the right skillset. Through this academy, IESA is also creating skilled manpower for new large-scale energy storage projects and its operation and maintenance. With the large focus on electric vehicle adaptation by the Indian Government, IESA is also trying to train human resources with the advanced skill development for electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturing in India.
IESA academy is working with select industry associations such as IEEMA, ISGF and top research universities such as IIT Kanpur, VJTI, TERI and GERMI to address the need for training and skill development for the sector, so that India can become a global hub for advanced energy storage manufacturing by 2020. IESA also works with SMEs who want to diversify into component and power electronics manufacturing for Indian energy storage market. The academy is working closely with Skill Council of India for bridging the skill gap in India related to energy storage & microgrids.
In 2016, IESA conducted regional capacity building workshop at various placed in India including Guwahati, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. In 2017, IESA conducted first of its kind Masterclass on energy storage & components manufacturing with IEEMA in Mumbai. IESA also organized Hands-on training on Lead Acid and Li-Ion battery Operation and Maintenance training program as part of Energy Storage India event at New Delhi. For 2018, IESA plans to organize 4 workshops and 3 master class and 2 certification program across the year in various cities.
The training programs at IESA academy caters to various verticals like advanced energy storage technologies, manufacturing, operation &maintenance, project finance & modeling, electric vehicle manufacturing and microgrid monitoring and design.