Oshawa Power and Panasonic Eco Solutions have launched a Solar PV and Energy Management pilot project in the City of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The project will involve the engineering and commissioning of approximately thirty turnkey residential rooftop solar PV systems that will be combined with energy storage and an energy management system.

Together with select strategic technology partners including Tabuchi Electric Co. of Japan and with support from the City of Oshawa, Oshawa Power offers residential PV systems, energy storage and management systems which can provide up to 10kWh of standby energy. The energy management system will provide homeowners the ability to better manage both their energy generation and consumption, thereby reducing their cost of electricity and their carbon footprint as well as be utilized as a source of backup power in the event of a grid power failure.

At the heart of the system is Tabuchi Electric’s EIBS hybrid PV inverter with embedded multi-string MPPT charger that controls both the solar array and the energy storage battery. The energy storage system includes Panasonic’s compact lithium-ion batteries that are designed to provide safe and reliable power on demand for many years.

The project is being supported by the City of Oshawa and funding for the project is being facilitated by Tabuchi Electric (Japan).

“The project provides us the opportunity to collaborate with progressive partners who share a common goal of instilling change in the arena of distributed energy generation,” said Walter Buzzelli, Managing Director, Panasonic Eco Solutions Canada.

Atul Mahajan, the CEO of Oshawa Power and Utilities is equally excited about the prospects of this project and the changes coming to his Industry. Mahajan says, “Distributed Generation and storage with the help of sustainable clean and green technologies such as cogeneration and solar is the smart way to produce and use energy.” He adds, “The cost effective reliable disruptive technologies that are already here and those that are around the corner will finally provide the customers the options which they did not have in a traditional Utility model. Think of solar + storage as the wireless smart phone equivalent, in the evolution of Electrical Industry.”

The complete commissioning of the residential energy management systems is due to be completed in the spring of 2015 after which a broader roll out in the City of Oshawa and the Province of Ontario will be initiated.

(Photo: Downtown of Oshawa, Photo Credit: wikipedia)