Quality

The PV panel testing company has left the fold four years after being acquired by DNV GL. Insiders have stressed the move should not be problematic as PVEL was allowed a degree of independence after it was acquired.

PI Berlin plans to open a headquarters in Spain next year. pv magazine has spoken with Senior Consultant Asier Ukar about market expectations, the most recurrent quality failures in Spain, risks, certification and protectionism. “After 10 years, we return to Spain with much enthusiasm,” he told us.

The first annual Battery Performance Scorecard has turned up interesting findings, including the fact high temperatures can help or hinder power output – depending on the product, and seemingly in equal measure.

What problems are being encountered and how to avoid them by learning from past mistakes? With booming installation rates across all segments of the Australian solar market, quality issues have been pushed to the fore, and quality assurance has become instrumental in shaping further uptake.

pv magazine’s Future PV Roundtable, held at the 2018 Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo in Greater Noida, discussed how India can better adopt bifacial solar cell and module technology – the future of power generation. Prominent industry speakers also put forth their views on how standards can catalyze solar innovation for India-specific challenges, and on PV materials and components for enhanced module efficiency and recycling.

At pv magazine’s first Latin American Quality Roundtable, held at Intersolar South America in Sao Paulo, we were joined by international players, like JinkoSolar and DuPont, as well as public and private Latin American entities, all of which are striving to bring more quality to the solar PV supply chain, from the U.S.-Mexico border to Tierra del Fuego.

pv magazine’s Quality Roundtable at the 2018 Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo, took place in front of a packed audience. It discussed current problem areas in the India solar industry; how solar developers and solution providers can improve the quality of PV installations; and innovative financial instruments to reduce the cost of debt and scale up infrastructure investment.

At pv magazine‘s first quality roundtable in Latin America – at Intersolar South America in Sao Paulo – we were joined by international players such as JinkoSolar and DuPont, as well as public and private Latin American entities striving to bring more quality to the PV supply chain from the US-Mexico border to Tierra del Fuego.

“Profitable yet risky”: This was one of the findings of a recent study, released in July, conducted by PI Berlin on behalf of Germany’s National Metrology Institute (PTB) when examining six Indian PV projects from the viewpoint of project quality. The report’s author Asier Ukar spoke to pv magazine in advance of his presentation on the subject at the Quality Roundtable at the Renewable Energy India conference next week.

Wildlife vandalism is the least of the worries afflicting PV system owners in India, according to a report which exposes cost-cutting in installation, non-existent warranties, serious safety concerns and improbable performance figures.