PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), an independent test lab for the solar industry, has upgraded the company’s suite of extended reliability and performance tests, the Product Qualification Program (PQP).

PVEL established the PQP in 2012 to provide empirical data for PV module benchmarking and project-level energy yield and financial models, and to help recognize top-performing PV modules. PQP testing also helps inform the company’s annual PV Module Reliability Scorecard, which provides actionable insights for PV module procurement based on data from PVEL’s testing.

“The module buying landscape has changed dramatically in recent years with advancements in module technology and new players entering the market, and in response, PVEL has focused our globally-acclaimed test program on addressing these changes,” said PVEL’s Tristan Erion-Lorico.

“The improvements we’ve made in this PQP update incorporate critical feedback from our downstream partners, research institutes, module and component manufacturers, and our own test results, keeping the PVEL PQP at the forefront of the growing demand for PV module procurement due diligence,” he adds.

Notable updates to the PQP include the following:

• a new test to address concerns around Ultraviolet Induced Degradation (UVID);
• refocusing the Hail Stress Sequence (HSS) on identifying the threshold of glass breakage;
• modifying the Mechanical Stress Sequence (MSS) to target module mechanical durability concerns; and
• streamlining processes for Light Induced Degradation (LID), Damp Heat (DH), Light and Elevated Temperature Induced Degradation (LETID), and Backsheet Durability Sequence (BDS) testing.

Participation in PVEL’s PQP is voluntary for manufacturers, and only top-performing module model types are named in the annual PVEL Scorecard. To date, PVEL has tested over 600 BOMs from more than 70 manufacturers for the PV Module PQP.

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PVEL Enhances Product Qualification Program for PV Modules