Two contributers to BEST have been awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the UK Queen’s honours list for services to the energy storage industry.
The organiser of the International Flow Battery Forum Anthony Price, the CEO of Swanbarton, and a regular contributor to BEST magazine, can now put the letters OBE after his name. The honour recognises his services to enable the development of the energy storage industry.
When asked to comment on the award he said: “It’s been a privilege to be able to work with so many people who have helped and encouraged me as I have been pushing to develop our energy storage industry.
“We have made great progress, particularly in the battery area, in increasing the role of storage on our electricity networks.
“I was very taken aback to have been recognised and honoured in this way and I’d like to thank everyone who has sent me their messages of congratulations.”
For many years Price has been known for his enthusiastic promotion of the value of energy storage, with a particular focus on large-scale applications. The International Flow Battery Forum, which has been running annually since 2010, will take place vitually this year from 19th January.
Over the years, Price has lobbied for change to the regulatory regime for storage in his role as founder of the Electricity Storage Network, and extolled the benefits of long-duration, high temperature (sodium-sulfur) flow batteries.
Isobel Sheldon was awarded her OBE for services to motor vehicle battery technology. The award recognises her work in the field of lithium-ion batteries and a career that has included working as Business Development Director for UKBIC, a battery production development facility to enable the scale-up of UK battery manufacturing.
Sheldon was UKBIC’s Business Development Director from January 2019 until she joined Britishvolt as chief strategy officer in July 2020. Britishvolt is on track to deliver the UK’s first battery gigaplant, with battery production commencing by the end of 2023.
Sheldon has 20 years of experience in battery design and development and is a globally renowned automotive battery specialist. She has worked closely with many of the world’s major automotive manufacturers, helping them advance their battery systems.
