The 2nd MI Green Power Innovation Conference - Plenary

The 2nd Mission Innovation (MI) Green Power Innovation Conference (GPIC-2), with the theme “Global Clean Nexus, Collaborating for a Green Powered Future”, was held in Yancheng, Jiangsu, China, on 10-13 December, 2024. The conference was hosted by the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEECAS), co-hosted by Mission Innovation Chinese Secretariat (MICS) and Green Powered Future Mission (GPFM) Coalition. Over 550 participants from more than 10 countries attended the conference. The agenda of the whole conference is shown below.

The Plenary was held on 11^th Dec., which consisted of three main parts. 

Part I

At the beginning, Xiao Wang, the Deputy Director of Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, Eleanor Webster, the Head of the MI Secretariat, and Mingkang Zhang, the Mayor of Yancheng Municipal People's Government delivered opening remarks. And Zixin Li, the Deputy Director of IEECAS, chaired this part.

Eleanor Webster,  the Head of the MI Secretariat, reviewed the development of MI over the past decade.

Jia Zhang, the Head of MI Chinese Secretariat, highlighted China’s main actions under the initiative, and put forward cooperation proposals for the 10^th anniversary of MI in 2025.

Luciano Martini, GPFM Director, provided an overview of GPFM, emphasizing its strategic goals. 

Craig Fraser, GPFM Pillar 3 Lead, introduced the GPFM Annual Report 2024, which just released at COP 29. Read more here. And Luciano Martini chaired the following part.

Yibo Wang, GPFM Pillar 1 Lead, released four GPFM Insight Reports of Innovation Priorities on behalf of the mission. These reports contain more than 50 demonstration cases from around the world and bring together the contributions of more than 70 experts from 10 countries. Read more here.

Gloria Scalco, from GPFM Communication Team, stressed the importance of effective communication and highlighted the specific actions and strategic tools used to achieve it.

The conference facilitated the signing of several Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Witnessed by Eleanor Webster and Zixin Li, IEECAS signed MoU with RSE of Italy and the University of Indonesia, respectively. This has laid the foundation for further building an international cooperation network of green power innovation.

Part II

Xiaoxin Zhou, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Foreign Academician of the American National Academy of Engineering, gave a speech about the development trend of China's novel energy and power system under the Dual Carbon Target. Yibo Wang chaired the following part.

Yongdong Li, Foreign Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and Engineering, gave a speech about the current state of the electrification railway and ships and their futher trend.

Jerry Yan, Academician of the European Academy of Humanities and Sciences and Academician of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences, gave a speech about how to achieve the Dual Carbon Target by realizing the energy-building-transportation symbiosis.

In the afternoon, a roundtable discussion was held between the GPFM Coalition and Chinese leading stakeholders on the topic of the Joint Efforts to Leading Innovation Strategies. This session chaired by Luciano Martini, facilitate efficient dialogues on accelerating green power innovation, exploring opportunities and challenges in joint projects, and leveraging Chinese Pilot Project achievements to support GPFM.

Following that, a GPFM-specific session, Flagship Project 1 (FP1) "5 Demos in Five Continents", was held and chaired by Eleanor Webster. Luciano Martini presented an overview of the FP1, highlighting the ongoing work, latest achievements, and significant strides taken by GPFM. 

Yibo Wang introduced the China's pilot project to showcase the achievements of developing GPFM Knowledge-sharing Platform and other technologies to accelerate breakthroughs in green power.

Mattia Cabiati, GPFM Pillar 2 Lead, fouced on the flexibility of power system to introduce the Italy's pilot project.

Craig Fraser introduced the clean energy innovation scheme in the UK's pilot project.

Michio Kondo, MI TAG Vice Chair, introduced a couple of examples of international initiatives to achieve 100% renewables in the power grid. 

Professor Rinaldy Dalimi from the University of Indonesia provided an analysis of the gradual changes in world energy governance towards Net Zero Emission, discussing its impact on the energy transition process. 

GPFM Coalition Members also contributed valuable insights. Oscar Izquierdo Monge, the representative of coalition members from Spain, explored Spain's dedication to advancing green power innovation and its pivotal role in sustainable energy development.

Michele Almeida, the representative of coalition members from Brazil, highlighted ongoing studies aiming at advancing the energy transition in Brazil’s remote communities.

Finally, the Plenary ended with the concluding remark given by Alex Way, the Counsellor of the Departmentf or Climate, Energy, Environment and International Development at the British Embassy Beijing.