Quality Roundtable @ All-Energy Australia 2019

10:30 am - 12:30 pm, October 23, 2019
All Energy Australia, Expo Floor Theatre 2, Melbourne, Australia

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The Quality Roundtable is returning to All-Energy Australia for the second time on October 23, 10:30am-12:30pm. Join our high-level panel discussion and play a role in ensuring high quality PV installations that will stand the test of time.

Each year we look for new real-world cases of substandard quality, whether its components that don’t pass muster, or sloppy installation. Get in touch at Gifford(at)pv-magazine.com with your rooftop and utility scale cases and we’ll investigate and present findings for discussion during the event.

Make quality count, get involved in the 2019 Quality Roundtable at All Energy.

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Speakers

Martin Green, Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales

Martin Green is Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales, Sydney and Director of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, involving several other Australian Universities and research groups. His group's contributions to photovoltaics are well known and include holding the record for silicon solar cell efficiency for 30 of the last 34 years, described as one of the “Top Ten” Milestones in the history of solar photovoltaics. Major international awards include the 1999 Australia Prize, the 2002 Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, the 2007 SolarWorld Einstein Award, the 2016 Ian Wark Medal from the Australian Academy of Science and the prestigious Global Energy Prize in 2017.

Michelle McCann, Partner, PV Lab Australia

Dr. Michelle McCann has worked in solar energy since 1996. She is one of two Partners at PV Lab Australia. PV LAB Australia is a specialised test lab with a focus on quality assurance and risk evaluation for PV modules and they have tested solar panels used in Australian solar farms totalling many hundreds of MW. Michelle was the CEO and one of the founders of Spark Solar Australia, funded by a group of German experts in the photovoltaic field with the aim of establishing a PV manufacturing company. Prior to this, she worked in the photovoltaic group at the University of Konstanz in Germany, where she was group leader of the novel devices group. She has a PhD from the photovoltaic group at the ANU. Michelle has twice held a world record for high efficiency solar cells.

Hong-Jie Hu, China Technology Manager, Tedlar®. DuPont Photovoltaic and Fluoro Materials

Dr. Hong-Jie Hu graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences with Ph. D. in Materials Science and then joined DuPont Central R&D in 2011. He took various roles of Research Scientist, Technical Specialist and Market Development Manager, etc. and now serves as China Technology Manager of Tedlar® in DuPont Photovoltaic and Fluoro Materials. He has led extensive projects about photovoltaic materials and technologies, reliability research, external collaboration, international and local Code & Standards, failure modes and mechanisms of solar panel materials, market development, and Tedlar® industrial applications such as wallcovering, metal lamination and PVF coating, etc. in past several years.

Sandy Pulsford, Product Specialist - Testing and Compliance, Clean Energy Council

Sandy Pulsford has over 35 years’ experience in solar power systems. With a Diploma in Electrical Engineering, and CEC accreditation, he has extensive experience in design and installation of domestic, commercial and industrial solar power systems. He works as a consultant in commercial solar system design. For 10 years has worked with CEC on developing the Product Listing process, including initiating the product testing and compliance programs and enhanced product listings. For the last 3 years, Sandy has operated the CEC Product Testing and Compliance program. His passion is ensuring quality and professionalism in the solar industry.

Lior Handelsman, VP Marketing and Product Strategy, Founder, SolarEdge

Lior Handelsman founded SolarEdge in 2006 and currently serves as our Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategy in which he is responsible for defining and steering SolarEdge’s strategic global marketing activities, media outreach, product roadmap and vision, corporate product strategy, as well global product management, and corporate business development. Prior to founding SolarEdge, Mr. Handelsman spent 11 years leading power electronics research and development teams and directing large-scale, multidisciplinary research and development projects. Mr. Handelsman holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (cum laude) and an MBA from the Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology.

Shi Zhengrong, Founder, SunMan

Dr Shi is affectionately known as the Sun King, having founded pioneering Chinese module maker Suntech – at one time the world’s largest PV cell and module maker. He was awarded his PhD in solar energy at UNSW. Shi was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2009. Dr Shi departed Suntech in 2013, during a period of intense price pressure within the solar industry. He since founded SunMan, which is deploying crystalline silicon technology in lightweight polymer encapsulation – allowing solar to be installed on a range of commercial and industrial buildings that were previously thought to be unsuitable for solar PV.

Marty Rogers, VP of Global Asset Management and Support, NEXTracker

As Vice President of Global Asset Management and Services at NEXTracker, Martin (“Marty”) Rogers oversees worldwide service and support for the rapidly growing company, and oversees the NX Nashville, Tennessee regional office. With a career spanning multiple continents and countries, Marty has built highly regarded field and support service organizations around the world.

Jin Hao, VP of JinkoSolar’s R&D, JinkoSolar

Dr. Jin is the VP of JinkoSolar’s R&D and the convener of WG8 in IEC/TC82. He serves as technology expert for Department of Science and Technology in China from 2017. Dr. Jin received his Ph.D. degree in solar energy from Australian National University in 2007 and engage in technology development for the PV industrial chain of silicon wafer, PV cell and module with extensive experience in integrated product and technology development, and has broken world record in solar cell efficiency and module power ten times.

Anika Giller, Senior Business Development, EMEA, APAC

Anika Giller Senior Business Development Manager EMEA & APAC, Clean Energy Associates Anika leads Clean Energy Associate’s (CEA) business development initiatives for clients in over 15 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as in the Asia Pacific region. She manages a cross-fucntion team in Italy, Spain, India, China and the Philippines to execute client engagements. Prior to joining CEA, Anika worked in a cleantech startup and at IT and marketing advisory firms in Germany. She holds a BS Business Administration from the Free University Berlin, and a MS International Business Administration.

Eric Ast, Head of Global Business Development Photovoltaics, Stäubli

Eric Ast is the Head of Business Development Alternative Energies at Stäubli Electrical Connectors AG (formerly known as Multi-Contact AG), a technology leader and pioneer in the fields of electrical and fluid connectors, robotics and textile machinery since its foundation in 1892. Eric Ast joined Stäubli in 2008 and has over 12 years of experience in different senior leadership roles internationally and holds a B.Sc. in Marketing and International Business. Ast also served as President of SOLARUNITED since 2014. SOLARUNITED is the only trade association focusing on Quality, Reliability, Innovation, and PV Technology.

Jan Mastny, Head of Global Sales, Solar & Wind, LEONI

Jan Mastny heads the global sales assist in solar and wind for Leoni Studer. Jan has been active in the PV industry since 2005, and has worked with leading PV component manufacturers – previously with Onamba Japan and since 2015 with Leoni. He is currently responsible for global sales and market development, and has worked on a range of new projects, in R&D and product management. Jan is involved with a. number of international working groups and task forces. He is a passionate advocate for renewable energy and believes that clean energy is the key to keeping the earth beautiful for future generations.

Richard Qian,Product Engineer, LONGi Solar Australia

Richard Qian has been in the solar industry for more than 8 years. After graduating from UNSW, he started as Project Manager at TUV Rheinland Shanghai in charge of solar panel certification and testing. Later he cofounded a company called Terra Solar which focuses on providing technical services to solar farm owner/EPC e.g. solar panel in-line QA, factory inspection etc. Before joining LONGi Solar Australia, Richard was Technical Lead at Solar Juice supporting our sales and customers. He is currently responsible for all technical related matters on LONGi’s products.

Dave Dixon, Senior Analyst, Renewables, Rystad Energy

David Dixon has an undergraduate degree in Petroleum Engineering, with a Masters of Photovoltaic Engineering from the University of New South Wales. David has 7 years’ experience in the energy industry (upstream oil/gas and solar), with Shell, Woodside and Solgen Energy. David joined Rystad Energy in 2018 as a Renewables Analyst covering the Australian Market and is based in Rystad’s Sydney office.

Sunhara Kadam, Renewable Energy Engineer, Operations, Solar Analytics

Steve McKenery, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Clean Energy Associates

Taking action on substandard solar, including product testing, fault detection, warranty claims and glass-glass modules

The highly interactive session will present a series of ‘poor quality case studies’ from the Australian and international solar marketplace – examining how substandard PV components, installation or service has let investors and end users down.

Topics for discussion include:

PID, hotspots and encapsulation material failures
Common faults in rooftop installation
Warranty claim processes and best practice
MAST testing and CEC Enhanced Listing status
Bifacial module encapsulation and mounting in tracking installations

The session will be based around two panel discussions, addressing both rooftop and utility scale applications.

Event partners include the Clean Energy Council, PV-Lab Australia and DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions.

For more information about All Energy Australia 2019 click here

Agenda

10:30 - 10:35

Welcome and introductions

Jonathan Gifford, Editor in Chief Global, pv magazine group and Founding Editor, pv magazine Australia

10:35 – 11:15

ROOFTOP PANEL DISCUSSION Identifying, diagnosing, and testing for failures – then what to do when things go wrong

Sandy Pulsford, Product testing and compliance specialist, Clean Energy Council •
Sunhara Kadam, Renewable Energy Engineer, Operations, Solar Analytics •
Jack Long, Director, Solar Cutters •
Richard Qian, Product Engineer, LONGi Solar •

Panel session includes

QUALITY CASE 1 Module level monitoring for fault detection and proactive O&M implementation

Q&A presentation with Lior Handelsman, Founder, VP Marketing and Product Strategy SolarEdge Technologies

Panel session includes

QUALITY CASE 2 PID, hotspots, backsheet failures, and warranty claims, in tropic climate

Presented by Jonathan Gifford, pv magazine group

11:15 – 11:35

SOLAR LEADER DIALOGUE LeTID in high efficiency PV cells, opportunities for ‘next generation’ PV products

Martin Green, Scienta Professor, UNSW •
Shi Zhengrong, Founder, SunMan •

11: 35 – 11:45

PRESENTATION Latest findings from DuPont’s 2 GW global quality field survey

Hongjie Hu, China Technology Manager, DuPont Photovoltaic and Fluoro Materials

11:45 – 12:25

UTILITY PANEL DISCUSSION From design to commissioning, best practices across the supply chain for fault prevention and underperformance

Marty Rogers, VP Global Asset Management and Support, NEXTracker •
Jan Mastny, Global Head of Sales, Solar and Wind, LEONI •
Michelle McCann, Partner, PV Lab Australia •
Hongjie Hu, China Technical Service and Development Leader, DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials •
Jin Hao, VP of R&D, JinkoSolar •

Panel session includes

PRESENTATION Australian utility scale PV market major players and progress

Dave Dixon, Senior Analyst, Renewables, Rystad Energy

Panel session includes

QUALITY CASE 3 Microcrack inspections, and the role of in-factory quality assurance

Q&A presentation with Steve McKenery, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Clean Energy Associates

12:25 – 12:30

Closing remarks

Jonathan Gifford, Editor in Chief Global, pv magazine group and Founding Editor, pv magazine Australia

Networking Session

Benefits of our unique Roundtable format

facilitates networking to build lasting relationships
encourages open interaction and knowledge sharing with your peers
organically creates a pv community, bringing all the industry stakeholders together
provides an environment for sharing ideas, innovations, and best practice experience

Quality Roundtable @ All-Energy Australia 2019

Speakers

Martin Green, Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales

Michelle McCann, Partner, PV Lab Australia

Hong-Jie Hu, China Technology Manager, Tedlar®. DuPont Photovoltaic and Fluoro Materials

Sandy Pulsford, Product Specialist - Testing and Compliance, Clean Energy Council