Joe Redfield has over 25 years in the advanced research and development experience at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. He specializes in energy systems engineering and has extensive design and project management experience in the development and application of advanced technologies for vehicle drive train systems.
Mr. Redfield manages and provides engineering leadership to project teams involved in the development and systems integration of electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid drive trains. These systems include parallel and series hybrid configurations, automatic-manual transmissions, and advanced vehicular energy systems through fuel cell auxiliary power units.
Mr. Redfield has been an avid supporter of renewable technologies during his entire career. He has served for six years on the American Wind Energy Association International Standards Coordinating Committee. He holds both a BA and MS in electrical engineering from the University of Texas in Austin. He is an IEEE Senior Member and holds professional memberships with the AIAA and the SAE. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.

Abstract
Solar energy, specifically energy produced from photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, is being considered as a major source of clean electric energy for the power systems of the future. A major untapped source of PV energy is through residential installations. Combined with electric transportation, the intelligent grid, and other renewable technologies, PV systems offer the opportunity to offset a significant amount of green house gas emissions used to provide our urban transportation needs and produce our electricity.
This presentation begins with a brief look at the technologies currently available for residential application of PV systems and describes the experiences associated with one of the early residential PV plants installed in the San Antonio area.
The presentation will then discuss research performed by the presenter's family to create a novel method for exploring the maximum economic value of a PV plant. The method considers that the panel orientation for maximum economic value may be different than the traditional orientation for maximum power production. This method, the experimental data, and the analysis will be presented.