SunEdison, which is a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials, will lead the project aimed to develop home solar photovoltaic charging systems for electric vehicles from Chevrolet Electric. The company will take up this role as part of its participation in the Smart Grid Project from Pecan Street.
The Smart Grid project is aimed at making demonstrations of consumer electronics, systems and other applications that have been developed by leading companies in collaboration with researchers at University of Texas and Pecan Street. Other companies that are participating in this project, which is being carried out in Texas, are Freescale, Best Buy, Whirlpool, Sony, Intel, Check-It, Landis+Gyr and Chevrolet.
SunEdison will adopt its SunEdison Energy and Environmental Data System (SEEDS) to collect data regarding energy consumption patterns among users. This information will help the companies that are involved to develop automotives with zero carbon emissions. Some of the photovoltaic charging systems will comprise of in-house batteries and this will in turn be integrated with the systems of other companies that will also be involved in this project namely Whirlpool, Sony, Best Buy, Intel and Check-It. 150 residents will use the roof-top solar photovoltaic system. This will also include residents who own Chevrolet’s Volts electric car.
According to Brewster McCracken, Executive Director, Pecan Street, the innovative products resulting from this project should provide smart solutions and effective control systems for appliances used by customers.
Source: http://www.sunedison.ca