In June of 2026, Albemarle will present at the Fastmarkets Global Lithium, Battery and Critical Materials event in Las Vegas, NV. This is the industry’s flagship gathering of senior leaders securing supply, unlocking investment and accelerating deal making across EV and energy storage markets.
As lithium and critical minerals move into a new phase defined by security of supply, shifting demand, and heightened geopolitical risk, this keynote panel sets the strategic lens for the event:
Lithium market evolution: Supply, demand and the end of the lithium winter
Navigating policy shifts, geopolitics and national security narratives
Energy storage demand: The emergence of ESS as a structural demand driver
Capital, risk and project finance across lithium and critical minerals value chains
Global market strategies and regional playbooks
Sessions to include:
Executive Keynote Address by Eric Norris (June 23rd 9:50 AM - 10:30 AM)
The session will set the strategic lens for the week ahead, exploring lithium market evolution, security of supply, shifting demand, geopolitical risk, policy change and the growing role of energy storage as a structural demand driver.
Eric brings a senior commercial perspective from one of the world’s leading lithium producers. As Chief Commercial Officer at Albemarle, he is responsible for enterprise sales, commercial excellence, field and digital marketing, and product management.
Having previously led Albemarle’s Lithium global business unit, and with earlier senior leadership experience at FMC, Eric brings deep commercial and sector experience to a discussion focused on how the lithium market is adapting to a more complex global environment.
Eric will join Dale Henderson, CEO of PLS, and Raju Daswani, CEO of Fastmarkets, for a discussion on supply, demand, the end of the lithium winter, geopolitical and national security narratives, ESS demand, project finance and global market strategies.
Energy Storage vs EVs: Is ESS Set to Become the Primary Driver of Lithium Demand? with Hideki Ozawa (June 23rd 5:00 PM - 5:30 PM)
The session will open with a live audience vote on whether energy storage systems (ESS) could feasibly overtake electric vehicles (EVs) as the primary driver of lithium demand.
The audience will then vote at the end to determine which of the arguments presented is the most persuasive and their sentiment about the future of ESS demand.
Topics to be discussed include: How large is global ESS demand today, and how meaningful is it relative to EV demand? Why ESS demand is accelerating as EV adoption slows, and how sustainable is this growth? 2026–2030 outlook: how fast ESS demand could scale relative to EVs over the next five years, and what that trajectory implies for lithium pricing, offtake strategies, and capacity investment decisions. How buyers and producers should recalibrate offtake and capacity planning if ESS demand accelerates.
