American manufacturer Ford announced last week it will build, together with Detroit Edison and Xtreme Power, one of the largest solar power generation systems Michigan. To serve the Michigan Assembly Plant, the solar power station will be capable of developing 500-kilowatt of solar electricity.

The system will be used in conjunction with a 750-kw energy storage facility with a caqpacity to storee two million watt-hours of energy using batteries. That´s enough to power 100 average Michigan homes for a year.

“With this solar energy system, we will be able to gain vital understanding about the integration of renewable power, smart-grid technologies and energy storage at an industrial facility,” said Jim Tetreault, Ford North America Manufacturing vice president said.

“This project is a part of the transformation of Michigan Assembly from a large SUV factory to a modern, flexible, and sustainable small car plant.”

The energy generated by the solar power station will not only be used to power the facility alone. It will also be used to power 10 electric vehicle-charging stations at the facility. When the plant is not in use, the energy generated will be stored for use when there´s not enough sunlight.

For Detroit Edison, the new station is just another step towards making the SolarCurrents program a reality. The program aims to be able to provide 15 megawatts of electricity throughout Southeast Michigan within the next five years.

“Building solar energy systems on the scale we’re pursuing will increase demand for these technologies, and we’re working with the governor’s office and various economic development organizations to attract renewable energy manufacturers and green jobs to Michigan,” added Trevor Lauer, Detroit Edison Marketing & Renewables vice president.

---

16.08.2010, Ford, Xtreme Power, Detroit Edison

News material on the Site is copyright and belongs to the Company or to its third party news provider, and all rights are reserved. Any User who accesses such material may do so only for its own personal use, and the use of such material is at the sole risk of the User. Redistribution or other commercial exploitation of such news material is expressly prohibited. Where such news material is provided by a third party, each User agrees to observe and be bound by the specific terms of use applying to such news material. We do not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the info contained in any news or external websites referred to in the news.