By Jeff St. John
A consortium of Japanese companies that may include Hitachi (HIT), Toshiba (TOSBF.PK), Fuji and Panasonic (PC) have set their sights on building a smart grid project in an unnamed New Mexico town, according to news reports Friday.
Details on the plan, which emerged Friday from the Nikkei news service (via Green Car Congress), are sketchy. The project, planned for an unnamed New Mexico town with about 1,000 families, is meant to get underway in October, the report said.
The initial cost of the project – 2 billion to 3 billion yen, or $20 million to $30 million, according to reports – is to be covered by the Japanese government and is expected to include battery-based energy storage and solar power systems, the report said.
The project is to be led by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, a Japanese government group, the report said. While that group will seek bidders on the project, the report said that they will likely include Hitachi, Toshiba, Fuji Electric Holdings Co., Panasonic Corp. and general contractor Shimizu Corp., which were also involved in a U.S.-Japan research project earlier this year.
