Illinois, United States based global safety certification company Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has launched its first mobile PV unit testing laboratory in India. It says the company is the first independent third-party certified and accredited company to launch a mobile PV testing lab in the Asian country.
With the help of this lab, solar PV system owners and operators will be able to identify, evaluate and replace underperforming modules directly at the solar plant site, saving time and maximizing energy production. The lab helps detailed checks of up to 300 modules in one shift and can identify hidden defects such as micro cracks, inactive areas or hotspots quickly and reliably, said UL. It can conduct tests on insulation, performance with low irradiance, performance at normal operating cell temperature (NOCT) and temperature coefficient.
The lab is equipped with an A+A+A solar simulator with a high-resolution electroluminescence (EL) test system as per IEC 60904-9 standard.
UL claims the mobile testing facility enables standard-compliant and precise on-site testing at maximum throughput.
"Underperforming PV modules can bring down the energy output of a whole solar power plant which is a huge risk in terms of internal rate of return, possible damage to the modules and loss in power generation," said Director for renewables in Asia Pacific for UL, Dr Chakradhar Byreddy. "It was a natural progression for UL to launch the mobile PV unit testing laboratory in the Indian market, especially at a time when the government of India is working towards developing robust quality standards for components and systems."
Back in December 2018, Norway's DNV GL announced a first on-site solar PV testing lab in India offering flash test/I-V curve measurement and EL testing (see DNV GL Launches First On-Site Solar Lab In India).
Earlier in November 2017, Germany's PI Berlin launched a subsidiary in India with access to its Suzhou test lab for India projects (see PI Berlin Expands To India). With Mitsui Chemicals it announced starting BIS certification tests for solar panels in India with a Gujarat based testing lab in August 2018 (see Mitsui Chemicals Testing Lab In India).