Quality

After a detailed review of solar panels manufactured at Vikram Solar’s plant in West Bengal, US-based Black & Veatch concluded that its modules successfully meet the requirements of respective international standards.

Founded in 2016, Prescinto Technologies is an industrial internet of things solution provider to the solar sector. After two years, Prescinto has found a footing in 13 countries across 4 GW of solar plant capacity. Backed by Gensol Group’s engineering experience across 20 GWs of renewable projects, Prescinto is able to transform that knowledge into code and empowers plants ‘onboarded’ on its platform.

As in many fast-growing solar marketplaces, some of the stories about PV quality to emerge from India have been the stuff of nightmares. But the industry is mobilizing in the form of a quality taskforce, writes Pranav R. Mehta, chairman of the National Solar Energy Federation of India.

India’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued guidelines for solar PV inverter manufacturers to get their products tested and approved by Bureau of India Standards (BIS) certified labs. These guidelines apply to off-grid, grid-tie and hybrid inverters of capacities up to 150 KW.

Rules on the composition of product containers, production line sample sizes for testing and technical information will come into force for manufacturers and distributors operating across the nation.

While Bureau of India Standards (BIS) certification is an honest attempt by the Indian government to mitigate risks associated with poor quality of modules, there are several reasons why this particular objective is currently not being met. pv magazine India’s Uma Gupta investigates India’s efforts to ensure quality in its booming PV industry.

National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) will carry out inspections, verifications and quality checks on behalf of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

While India’s solar potential is unquestionable, progress has been uneasy and race-to-the-bottom pricing has held back the adoption of technologies such as MLPE. However, that is beginning to change, writes Prasidh Kumar, CEO of Soreva Energy, as grid modernization requires proactive monitoring and optimization technologies.

The amount and nature of desert dust determines whether daily cleaning of solar modules is a favorable option. However, frequent and water-intensive cleaning, as well as the amount of labor required, can be costly in desert installations. But the ingenuity of automation is on its way to help.

The region’s climate, developing economies and demographic growth are driving increased electricity demand in the Middle East and North Africa. However, as a hub of conventional energy supply, the region has been slow to embrace PV. To capture more of the value chain and deliver the full potential of solar, there are increasing calls for distributed generation deployment to play a bigger role.