The New Mexico project is the first international collaboration in the U.S. to use solar energy to provide a significant portion of residential power needs and is a collaborative effort between the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan (NEDO), the New Mexico state government, the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) — a national research center which is run under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Energy.

The project has as its reported aims the "wider implementation of renewable energy and the promotion of energy conservation through the use of smart grid-related technologies...specifically, technologies that can provide a significant portion of renewable power for the electric grid to meet a community’s residential need".

Kyocera supplied a 910kW multi-crystalline silicon solar module array and for the Smart House Demonstration in Los Alamos, constructed a hybrid energy management system which uses a 3.4kW residential solar power generating system, 24kWh lithium-ion storage battery and an energy-efficient heat storage unit.

By operating a Home Energy Management System (HEMS) equipped with communication equipment and sensors, the Smart House aims to optimise energy usage from the solar power generating system, storage battery, power grid and smart appliances that allow for electric demand in the house to be responsive to smart grid signals.