Toshikazu Shibata joined Sumitomo Electric in 1992 and began his career in the development of power cables. Since 2003, he has been involved in the development of energy storage systems, with over 20 years of experience in vanadium redox flow battery systems, covering R&D, system design, engineering, project management, and maintenance. He has contributed to major energy storage projects in Japan, including a 60 MWh system in Hokkaido. Based in San Jose, he currently focuses on supporting the deployment and advancement of VRFB technology in the U.S. market and facilitating technical collaboration between the U.S. and Japan. He is also a member and expert of IEC TC21/JWG7, contributing to the development of international standards for flow batteries.