PVEL Opens New US Solar Inverter Test Centre

• PVEL has thrown open its test center with advanced features in the US where it will conduct inverter testing
• The South San Francisco Lab of PVEL can now test up to 1500V string inverters and power electronics
• Previously, inverter testing would be undertaken by PVEL at its Berkeley headquarters

PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) has come up with an advanced inverter test center in the US after it renovated its South San Francisco Lab. This refurbished facility can test string inverters and power electronics for solar projects of any scale.

The independent test lab for the downstream solar industry claims the new inverter test center can support residential, commercial and utility scale solar projects where it will be able to evaluate customizable, plug-and-play 600V, 1000V and 1500V products spanning the entire spectrum of the market from a 320W microinverter to a 1500V string inverter.

It touts the test center to have the ability to assess a product's ability to interface with the local utility in compliance with IEEE and California Rule 21 mandates.

"In the past 12 months, we have observed inverter failures accounting for nearly 80% of lost production in PV power plants before the interconnection point and a major portion of unscheduled maintenance costs," said Joe Kastner, CEO of Radian Generation. "Understanding inverter quality and supply chain constraints are key to controlling and understanding these costs. Inverters are critical to the financial performance of solar power plants and PVEL's independent testing is a great tool for understanding inverter risk and informing procurement decisions."

Previously, PVEL used to conduct inverter testing at its Berkley headquarters.

In its 2020 PV Module Reliability Scorecard, PVEL along with DNV GL pointed out some concerning trends in safety standards for module technology while hailing bifacial modules (see PVEL Releases 2020 Module Reliability Report).