According to the news from Mercom of India, with the rapid development of photovoltaic installed capacity in India, the attention paid to the quality of photovoltaic equipment has been paid more and more attention.
Aware of this problem, the Ministry of New Energy and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of India issued a series of guidelines to guide the testing of photovoltaic modules.
These tests must be performed by the laboratory in order to pass the mandatory registration of the Indian Bureau of Standards (BIS).
Although the guidelines for these tests were generally welcomed by the industry, they did not produce the expected results. Instead, manufacturers did not line up to accept component certification as expected.
According to reports, only 10-12 Indian and foreign component manufacturers have passed BIS certification.
Officials at a new test lab said they have received more than 30 consultations on testing and certification, but none of them can go on, mainly because the test guidelines issued by MNRE are still somewhat confusing.
In addition, it takes time to complete the certification. Many component vendors submitted test samples in April, and did not pass the final certification until September-October.
A test lab involved in BIS certification said: 'The time required for the lab depends on various factors. For example, what certifications need to be done, when the samples arrive, and how much labor is at the time of the lab. Therefore, it is difficult Clearly explain the time spent on BIS certification.
A component manufacturer said the certification process could take three to six months.
In addition, some small component manufacturers have expressed concern about this.
By 2020, the Indian government has exempted domestic PV module manufacturers with a capacity of less than 50MW from BIS certification.
India's Ritika Systems welcomes the fact that its component capacity is less than 50MW. But BIS is also very similar to the IEC standard, even if it is not exactly the same in some places.
Ritika Systems has passed the IEC standard certification, and the BIS standard is not so different. The cost of testing each series of components requires $32,000, and the 5-6 series requires $200-270,000. For medium-sized businesses. In fact, this is also a lot of money. In addition, even a small change in the bill of materials (BOM) should be repeated. If there is a relaxation in this area, it will help small and medium enterprises.
Another component manufacturing company said that PV is currently in a very bad direction and is not moving in the right direction.
The price has dropped, you have no profit. In this case, you have to make concessions on quality. At this price, it is meaningless to apply for certification.
Currently, there are only four PV module test laboratories in India - TUV, UL, NISE and HiPhysix. Therefore, many foreign companies are also targeting the PV module testing and certification market in India.
Recently, Mitsui announced that it plans to establish a component testing and certification laboratory in Gujarat in cooperation with PIBerlin.
