The trouble with solar power is that, like wind power, it’s intermittent in nature. Sunverge believes it has developed the answer this problem with its new Solar Integration System (SIS), a technology that gives homeowners and utilities the power to harvest solar energy when the sun is shining and store it for a rainy day (or, more immediately, nightfall). According to Sunverge, this system has the potential to lower the cost of adoption for solar systems by reducing the number of solar cells needed to power a home.

Recently, we received word that Sunverge SIS appliances would be installed as part of a net zero affordable housing project in Sacramento. Now, it would appear, the company is ready to introduce this tech to the world at large–to residential and commercial customers interested in working with their utility companies’ smart grid programs to install solar power systems at a lower cost. Renewable energy storage was once thought impractical due to the cost of batteries, but Sunverge notes that the rise of the electric vehicle and plug in hybrid at a mass-produced level has helped to drive down those costs.

image via Sunverge

According to Sunverge, utilities are expected to deploy around 60 million smart meters across the U.S. between 2010 and 2015, opening up the market in a big way for distributed power technologies such as their SIS, and the company sees its technology as instrumental to helping the nation’s utilities integrate distributed renewable energy into the emerging smart grid matrix.

By storing solar energy at times of peak production and releasing it to homes during time of peak demand, according to Sunverge, utilities will be able to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels and integrate solar more effectively into its overall generating capacity by using the SIS.