December 6, 2019: Facing challenges and working together to overcome them was one of the key messages shared by speakers opening the ‘International Conference on Lead and Lead Batteries – Energy Storage, E-Mobility and Environment’ held in Mumbai on December 2-3.
Hosted by the India Lead Zinc Development Association with the ILA and the India Lead and Zinc Study Group, the conference was opened by economist, and policy commentator Guruswamy Chandrashekhar.
Calling the conference’s presenters a ‘glittering gallery of distinguished speakers’, Chandrashekhar said the lead battery industry had been threatened with disappearance for years and had still not gone anywhere.
“In India lead batteries were used in miners’ lamps to begin with,” he said. “Then forklift trucks. Then the automotive sector used them, then the railways and communications sectors.
“Then India had massive power shortages, some of them lasting for hours, and everyone would have a couple of batteries to back up – then UPS had lead batteries. They were then used in mobile telecoms towers.
“The product was written off – yet it kept expanding, and now there are opportunities in renewable energy. India has plenty of sun. The potential is huge.”
ILA managing director Andy Bush was presented with copies of a new booklet produced by L Pugazhenthy (Pug) and ILZDA, Lead and You – Working Safely with Lead, published especially for the conference. Over the following two days many speakers embellished the theme with papers on improved health and safety measures being taken by firms across the industry.
Also opening the conference was João Jorge, director-market research and statistics for the ILZSG (India Lead Zinc Study Group). He said one of his aims was to enhance transparency through the publication of accurate and reliable information and promote cooperation between governments and the metals and mining industries.
“Despite the cutting down of lead in certain things, lead has continued to grow, mainly because of the automotive sector,” he said. “If can also play a leading role in the energy storage markets, particularly with renewable energy.”
ILA consultant Brian Wilson, who has 15 years’ experience of working in India, said he had seen improvements in health, safety and the environment — but that ‘if India is to reap the benefits of green energy and E mobility its environmental performance has to be increased’.
Harssha Shetty, chief marketing officer with Hindustan Zinc, said lead batteries were the best suited for wind and solar applications but that in India, most recycling was being done illegally.
In his opening paper the following day, Mark Stevenson reiterated that point, calling the practice ‘rogue smelting’ and explaining the
Concluding the opening section, Andy Bush said the energy storage and E mobility sectors were facing serious competition with lithium ion and other technologies.
“Industry has to find ways to work together to drive innovation in battery performance and make lead batteries in ways our industry has not done in the past, so that batteries meet the performance needs of battery users for years to come,” he said.
“Lead is a toxic substance, there’s no way of getting away from that. In Europe it’s very well studied and we know how to manage it well. There’s no reason why it can’t be managed to fully protect people and the environment so that society can enjoy all the benefits it has to offer.
“And yet, around the world it’s not always managed in the most sustainable way. I can’t stress enough how important it is to find solutions to this, around the world and across the battery chain, and the ILA is making this a key priority.
“I firmly believe we need to work even more closely together to achieve this.”
Over the following days of the conference, there was a strong line-up of speakers, notable of whom were presentations from Luminous, Hindustan Zinc, Gravita and Exide Industries.
