Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. engages in the commercialization of materials, products and production processes for the alternative energy generation, energy storage and information technology markets.
Segments
The company operates its business in two segments: United Solar Ovonic, and Ovonic Materials.
UNITED SOLAR OVONIC
The company's United Solar Ovonic segment designs, develops, manufactures and sells PV modules that generate clean, renewable energy by converting sunlight into electricity. This business, which the company conducts through its wholly owned subsidiary, United Solar Ovonic LLC, is based principally on its technology for thin-film amorphous silicon PV modules and low-cost, roll-to-roll manufacturing.
The company's PV modules can be integrated directly with roofing materials. Its PV modules are 18-foot laminates (without a frame). The company sells its PV modules principally for commercial and industrial roofing applications. It sells its modules to commercial roofing materials manufacturers, builders and building contractors, and solar power installers/integrators, which incorporate its PV modules into their products and services for commercial sale. It also sells PV modules for ground-mounted and residential applications and, for some applications, manufactures and sells framed PV products.
Customers
The company's customers include Solar Integrated Technologies Inc. (SIT), Biohaus PV Handels GmbH (Biohaus), Alwitra Flachdach Systeme GmbH, Corus Bausysteme GmbH, Hoesch Contecna Systembau, Unimetal S.p.A., SunEdison, LLC, Advanced Green Technologies, Inc. (a unit of Advanced Roofing, Inc.) and Actus Lend Lease (a subsidiary of Lend Lease Corp. Ltd).
Competitors
The company's principal competitors in the solar market include Sharp Corporation, Q-Cells AG, Kyocera Corporation, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (Sanyo), Sunpower Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., all of which manufacture crystalline or polycrystalline silicon PV modules, and First Solar, Inc., which manufactures thin film, cadmium telluride PV modules on glass substrates.
OVONIC MATERIALS
The company's Ovonic Materials segment invents, designs and develops materials and products based on its materials science technology, principally amorphous and disordered materials. It is commercializing its NiMH materials and consumer battery technology through this segment. It also engages in pre-commercialization activities for its emerging technologies.
NiMH Batteries
NiMH batteries are rechargeable energy storage solutions. They are adaptable to a range of consumer, transportation and stationary applications. The company commercializes its NiMH battery technology principally through its Cobasys joint venture and third-party licensing arrangements with NiMH battery manufacturers throughout the world. It also sells positive electrode nickel hydroxide materials for use in NiMH batteries. It conducts its NiMH battery technology licensing and materials manufacturing activities through its subsidiary, Ovonic Battery Company, Inc., of which it owns 91.4% with the remainder owned by Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (3.2%), Sanoh Industrial Co., Ltd. (3.2%) (Sanoh) and Sanyo (2.2%).
Customers
The segment’s major customer includes Gold Peak Industries.
Emerging Technologies
Ovonic Solid Hydrogen Storage Technologies: The company is manufacturing pre-production volumes of portable hydrogen canisters in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and has sold approximately 3,000 canisters of various sizes to multiple customers.
Ovonic Metal Hydride Fuel Cell Technologies: The company's Ovonic metal hydride fuel cell technology combines the features of both fuel cell and battery technologies.
Ovonic Biofuel Reformation Technologies: The company's Ovonic reformation technology produces pure hydrogen in a safe process from multiple biofuel and biomass sources at far lower operating temperatures than commercial processes without the generation of carbon dioxide global warming gas.
Joint Ventures
The company has two joint ventures that are commercializing technologies it invented: Cobasys, which is manufacturing and selling rechargeable NiMH batteries primarily for transportation and stationary applications, and Ovonyx, which is commercializing phase-change memory devices through licensing arrangements and joint development agreements.
Cobasys
The company's Cobasys joint venture designs, develops, manufactures and sells advanced NiMH battery system solutions for transportation markets, including hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), in addition to stationary back-up power supply systems for uninterruptible power supply, telecommunication and distributed generation requirements. Cobasys manufactures and sells its advanced NiMH battery system for General Motors Corporation’s Saturn VUE and Saturn Aura Green Line vehicles, both of which are available, and the Chevrolet Malibu.
The company's Ovonic Battery Company owns 50% of Cobasys, and Chevron Technology Ventures LLC (Chevron), a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, owns the remaining 50%. Cobasys operates independently of its joint venture partners, although each partner participates on Cobasys’ management board.
Cobasys’ principal competitors for HEV batteries are Panasonic EV Energy Company (PEVE) (an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corporation), which provides NiMH batteries for Toyota’s HEVs and the Honda Civic Hybrid, and Sanyo, which provides NiMH batteries for the Ford Escape Hybrid, the Honda Accord Hybrid and the Mercury Mariner Hybrid. Sanyo provides its NiMH batteries under a royalty-bearing license from ECD’s Ovonic Battery Company affiliate.
Ovonyx
The company owns 39.5% of Ovonyx. Its Ovonyx joint venture is commercializing its proprietary Ovonic Universal Memory (OUM) technology through licensing and product development arrangements. OUM is a basic, new type of nonvolatile memory that can replace conventional nonvolatile or FLASH memory in applications requiring retention of stored data when power is turned off, including cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras and microelectronics.
Ovonyx has entered into nonexclusive license agreements with Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Qimonda AG., Elpida Memory, Inc., STMicroelectronics N.V., BAE Systems and Nanochip, Inc. to produce OUM products. Under these agreements, Ovonyx is also participating in joint development programs to assist in the commercialization of OUM phase-change memory products.
History
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. was founded in 1960.
