Earth Protect Blog

Tokyo, June 4, 2010 -- The Sanyo Electric Group, including Sanyo North America Corporation headquartered in San Diego, Calif., (SANYO) and the University of California, 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.

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. The Smart Energy System offers an example of local power generation for local consumption (solar panels generate energy, which can be stored in local rechargeable batteries, and then used in local energy-efficient appliances). The company plans to further lead the renewable energy revolution through its partnership with UC San Diego, well known for its sustainable research and use of solar technologies.

"As one of the greenest universities in the United States, UC San Diego has become a living laboratory for sustainability and renewable energy," said UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. "This partnership with Sanyo will further leverage the university's energy research expertise which, in turn, will benefit industry, society and the environment.

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.