A panel session at the 2026 Battery Council International Convention, titled “Consortium Applied R&D Programs (SAGE/Zn/OE960/OE961),” convened representatives from national laboratories and industry to discuss how consortiums’ research bridges the gap between R&D and commercial deployment. Sandia’s Timothy Lambert, distinguished member of the technical staff and Sandia’s energy storage materials science and innovation thrust lead, and PNNL’s Xiaolin Li, materials scientist, contributed to the discussion, representing projects and consortiums funded by the DOE OE Energy Storage Division aimed at battery life, domestic viability, and fundamental science to inform engineering and accelerate technologies’ paths to market.
A summary of the panel was published online by BEST Magazine, an international industry magazine focused on batteries and energy storage technology. Consortiums like this connect industry with ongoing research to enhance research programs’ alignment and apply research findings more quickly to commercial batteries and the national battery industry. The panel covered the challenges of establishing effective consortiums that build alignment between all partners — both in terms of research priorities and organizational culture.
Photo: Researchers funded by the Office of Electricity Energy Storage Division attended the 2026 Battery Council International Convention to explore how Consortium-led research programs, such as the Sodium-ion Alliance for Grid Energy Storage (SAGES) led by PNNL, can help bridge emerging battery science and commercial deployment.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.