Special Interviews

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory with over 3,200 employees, is transforming energy through research, development, commercialization, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. NREL also plays a key role in RD20, helping promote greater collaboration in the clean energy field. We interviewed Dr. Bill Tumas, associate laboratory director for Materials, Chemical, and Computational Science at NREL, to learn more about the lab’s efforts to achieve a circular economy and the key role the lab plays in RD20.

The Joint Research Centre is a research institute within the European Commission, the European Union's executive branch. Christian Thiel heads the Energy Efficiency and Renewables Unit in JRC.C, which is the JRC's Directorate for Energy, Transport and Climate. In addition to setting policy on technology and research topics, the JRC conducts research in search of supporting evidence. To carry out this mission, the JRC collaborates with research institutes in Europe and around the world. RD20 is one of those collaborations. We asked Dr. Thiel about the JRC's role and his expectations for RD20.

The Republic of South Africa, which also attended RD20 2022, boasts a wealth of platinum, manganese, diamonds and other resources. It has maintained a variety of technological alliances with other countries in relation to renewables by leveraging its position as a country rich in resources. It also actively builds reciprocal partnerships with developed nations on decarbonization, driving the spread of renewables and other topics that RD20 makes its themes. Dr. Thulani Dlamini, CEO of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), shared his thoughts about RD20 with us.

Did you know that renewable energy provides Brazil with 45% of its electricity? Most comes from hydroelectric power, but the country is also beginning to focus on solar systems and wind power. More importantly, these system are integrated into the existing power grid, which also provides direct-current power transmission lines for a large swath of the country. Brazil faces a unique quandary: how to introduce other renewable energies, such as solar and wind, and connect them to the existing power grid. This is the forte of the Instituto de Redes Inteligentes (INRI). We spoke with Associate Professor Leandro Michels, who will present on the situation in Brazil at RD20 2023. He leads a solar systems technical team at the INRI.

The dates for the 5th Research and Development for Clean Energy Technologies (RD20) international conference have been decided: October 3 to October 6, 2023, at Hotel Hamatsu in Koriyama City, Fukushima. RD20 launched in 2019, the same year as the G20 Summit in Osaka, with the intent to provide a forum for researchers to discuss how to achieve carbon neutrality. This year, which is RD20’s fifth, will see the start of new endeavors to strengthen international collaboration and nurture young researchers. We spoke with Dr. YOSHIZAWA Noriko, Principal Research Manager at AIST’s Global Zero Emission Research Center (GZR) and the Secretary-General of the 5th RD20, about RD20 2023’s highlights and aims.

RD20 (Research and Development for Clean Energy Technologies), the international framework for R&D to achieve carbon neutrality, is run by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)’s Global Zero Emission Research Center (GZR). Founded in January 2020, GZR is headed by Dr. Yoshino, who is also known for winning the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. GZR runs RD20 and is actively engaged in research on carbon neutrality. We asked Dr. Yoshino, the Director of GZR, about RD20’s strategy this year.

Australian agriculture was worth $71 billion to the economy in 2020-21, as a major exporter of red meat and wheat. The country is also rich in mineral resources, and exports minerals such as iron ore, coal, and bauxite. It has a completely different industrial structure from Japan, and is a major country in terms of science and technology research. The huge laboratory called CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) covers a very wide range of themes, from medical care and healthcare to AI, green technologies such as renewable energy and batteries, the natural environment, mineral resources, space, and quantum physics. CSIRO has been a participant in RD20 (Research and Development 20 for Clean Energy Technologies) since it started in 2019. We asked Dr. Larry Marshall, Chief Executive of CSIRO, about his approach to RD20.

Germany is an environmentally advanced country, and its Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is Europe’s largest organization for applied research. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE), Europe’s largest renewable energy research institute, promotes sustainable, cost-effective, and secure energy supply systems. Under its mission to conduct research that benefits society, the Institute is engaged in researching the provision, delivery, storage, and use of clean energy. Closely involved with industry, it also encourages entrepreneurship and promotes international cooperation. We spoke with Professor Dr. Christopher Hebling, Director Division Hydrogen Technologies about the Institute’s RD20 goals for this year.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is an India- based independent, multi-dimensional research organization with capabilities in technology development, implementation, and policy research. It works in the energy, environment, climate change and sustainability space, and is also engaged in extensive research and development in areas of sustainable agriculture, advanced biofuels and nano-biotechnology. It has harnessed the power of bioenergy to produce hydrogen, and is working to make agriculture more environmentally friendly through its research on fertilizers. In addition, it is also working on energy issues such as solar energy and hydrogen, and is focused on research into eco-friendly forms of energy for the future such as biofuels and biohydrogen. We asked Dr Vibha Dhawan, Director General of TERI, about TERI’s activities in RD20.

The RD20 (Research and Development 20 for Clean Energy Technologies) conference began with a statement by then-Prime Minister Abe at the Davos Meeting in January 2019. Its establishment was later welcomed by a joint statement at a G20 Ministerial Meeting on the energy environment held in Karuizawa in June of the same year. It was decided to use RD20 as an international framework for the national research institutes of the G20 to hold conferences on energy transformation and the global environment. The government was represented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), while the conference was primarily managed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), an independent administrative agency. We spoke with Mr. KOYAMA Masaomi (photo), Director, International Affairs Office, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau, METI about what general direction they intend to take this year’s RD20 2022 in light of RD20 gatherings to date.