PVEL launches new hailstorm examination, increases capability with HQ step

• PV Evolution Labs (PVEL) has released a brand-new hail test for its PV Module Product Qualification Programme (PQP) as well as has actually announced an action of headquarters to Napa, California that sees the independent test lab double its testing capacity.

The hailstorm anxiety series was contributed to the PQP after concerns from insurance companies and possession owners about the capability of modules to endure the impact of serious hail. PVEL took data from almost 1GW of hail-damaged projects that it has assessed along with examination arises from in-lab experiments.

Since early next year, PVEL will be conducting its tests from its new headquarters in Napa, after it determined to move from its current bases in Berkeley as well as South San Francisco. The brand-new facility represents 100% growth in screening over the present labs, claimed PVEL.

" As global installed solar capability breaks every well-known record as well as solar PV modules are deployed to the furthest reaches of the world, we will proceed revealing threats that can just be overcome with brand-new data," commented Jason Kaminsky, COO of kWh Analytics, which has actually supplied insurance coverage case and property efficiency information to PVEL to notify the hailstorm test.

Jenya Meydbray, CEO of PVEL, said the "dependability problems of solar investors and also property proprietors are consistently developing" and PVEL got comments from downstream players when establishing its brand-new hail test.

" As an international sector, we must think about all-natural disasters like hailstorms in the context of an altering environment," stated Kevin Christy, head of advancement as well as operational excellence, Americas of Lightsource BP. "It is time to futureproof solar projects worldwide for brand-new weather patterns that are hard to predict yet difficult to ignore."

At the beginning of the month, PVEL introduced a crowdsourced screening programme that will certainly work with solar investors, programmers as well as property proprietors to check inverters and also does not call for maker involvement.

The independent screening lab on a regular basis generates module and inverter 'Top Performer' positions via its integrity scorecard. Earlier this year, PV Tech talked to PVEL's head of PV module company Tristan Erion-Lorico regarding junction box failing, testing for the elements as well as what developers have to think about when making use of the scorecard.

Begun in 2010 in California, PVEL ran under DNV from 2014-2019. It entered into the Netherlands-based KIWA group of business this year.