Science panel examines innovations for cost-effective renewable energy storage
April 30, 2015 
Jud Virden, director of energy and environment research at the D.O.E.'s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, will testify on energy storage research before a subcommittee of the U.S House of Representatives.
He will testify as part of a nine a.m. ET Friday hearing titled "Innovations in Battery Storage for Renewable Energy," which is being held by the House Committee of Science, Space and Technology's Subcommittee on Energy.
Virden will discuss:
- PNNL grid energy storage research and battery technologies that have been transferred to industry
- next steps needed to further advance energy storage for power grid operations
- how energy storage technologies can impact the energy market, including renewable power
The other hearing witnesses are:
- Imre Gyuk, energy storage plan manager at DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
- Phil Giudice, Ambri chief executive officer
- Jay Whitacre, Aquion Energy chief technology officer
Written copies of hearing testimonies will be posted online afterward on the hearing website.
PNNL leads in excess of $10 million in energy storage research. The national lab is developing reliable, safe and cost-effective battery systems to support a reliable and resilient electric grid, better integrate renewable energy sources, and to power clean electric vehicles.
PNNL is also a leader in nurturing public-private partnerships to quickly bring its technologies to the marketplace. Among its battery success stories is developing a new chemistry that increased the storage capacity of grid-scale vanadium redox flow batteries by 70 percent. 5 companies have licensed the technology and are now marketing products based on PNNL's intellectual property.
PNNL is providing analytical and technical support for 3 grid energy storage deployment plans funded by the State of Washington and DOE. The lab is also a partner within the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, a D.O.E. Energy Innovation Hub.
About Jud Virden
Jud Virden is the associate lab director for PNNL's Energy and Environment Directorate. He leads nearly 1,000 staff in delivering science and technology solutions for the nation's energy and environmental challenges. Virden currently serves on the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy board, the University of Michigan Energy Institute external advisory board, the CleanTech Alliance Washington board, the Oregon BEST board, the Council for Chemical Research governing board and the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute external advisory board. He joined PNNL in 1991as a researcher, working on nuclear waste processing and reducing vehicle emissions. Virden was elected in 2014 to the Washington State Academy of Sciences, holds 2 U.S. patents and earned bachelor's and doctorate degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Washington.
Tags: Energy, Renewable Energy, Batteries
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Lab address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs 4,300 staff and has an yearly budget of in excess of $1 billion. It is managed by Battelle for the D.O.E.'s Office of Science. As the single biggest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information on PNNL, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.
