June 4, 2010 – Sanyo Electric Group and the University of California at San Diego have announced a research collaboration agreement designed to lead to the next generation of solar energy systems and energy management.
Under the agreement, Sanyo and UC-San Diego will collaborate on multi-year, multi-disciplinary projects in the areas of renewable energy and energy storage research, development and education. Sanyo will contribute $3 million over three years to fund the collaborative research projects. The agreement is the first of its kind that Sanyo has made with a university in the United States in the area of energy.
The research projects that will be carried out under the agreement are central to the future use of solar power, especially for states like California that will rely more on renewable energy to meet its growing energy needs. The research will build on the Sanyo Smart Energy System concept, designed to improve the stability and reliability of renewable energy, and ongoing work at UC-San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in areas such as solar forecasting, energy storage and general energy management. The targets for research projects include developing the next generation of energy solutions, focusing on minimizing emissions while offering stable, reliable renewable energy generation, storage and efficiency from small to large-scale systems.
Sanyo is a leader in renewable energy and energy-efficient technology, with world-leading technology in solar cells, a world-leading market share of rechargeable batteries, and a long history of manufacturing energy-efficient electrical systems and equipment. Sanyo has created a “Smart Energy System,” based on the “Smart Grid” concept, combining these key technologies into a system.
Sanyo forecasts show an increasing market and demand for solar systems in the United States, as well as more policies and measures being considered and passed by the government administration directed toward solving energy and environmental issues. However, power generation is very sensitive to the balance of power supply available and the amount demanded. While solar panels offer a clean, renewable way to obtain energy, the issues of power generation loss caused by external influencers such as clouds need to be mitigated, as this type of fluctuation in power generation could adversely affect stability in the power grid. By combining solar power generation technology with lithium-ion battery systems for power storage, excess power generated can be captured to offset times when less power is generated, offering a more stable solution than previously available.
Press Contact:
Rachel Neppes
BERKMAN on behalf of SANYO North America Corporation
619-231-9977(Office)/619-405-3917 (Cell)/racheln@berkmanpr.com
Andrea Siedsma
UC San Diego, Jacobs School of Engineering
858-822-0899(Office) /760-840-0494(Cell)/asiedsma@ucsd.edu
Source: Sanyo
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