PV GAP ANNOUNCED AT THE 14TH EUROPEAN PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR ENERGY CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION

Palacio de Congresos
Barcelona (Catalunya), Spain

30 June - 4 July 1997

PRESENTATION OF THE GLOBAL APPROVAL PROGRAM FOR PHOTOVOLTAICS (PV GAP)

On Wednesday, 02 July 1997, 14:30, a special presentation will be given on the Photovoltaic Global Approval Programme. PV GAP is a global PV industry-driven organization that strives to promote and maintain a set of quality standards and certification procedures for the performance of PV products and systems as a means of ensuring high quality and reliability. PV GAP will be, for the first time, presented to the public:

W. Palz, European Commission - Belgium
Moderator:

P. Varadi, P/V Enterprises, USA
Concept and Organization of PV GAP

H. Ossenbrink, European Commission, JRC - Ispra, Italy
International Standards for Type Approval of PV Components and Systems

C. Gay, Midwest Research Institute/New ERA, USA
Laboratory Testing of PV Systems

R. Kay, International Electrotechnical Commission - Geneva, Switzerland, and
H. Shimizu, Japan Quality Assurance Program - Japan
The IECQ System and its relation to PV GAP

Industry Association Representatives:
Y. Baba - JEMA (Japan); J. Bonda - EPIA (Belgium); H. Forest - SEIA (USA); and A. Vora - ISPMA (India)
Industry Perspectives

The PV Market Transformation Initiative (PV MTI):
An initiative of the International Finance Corporation and its relationship to PV GAP will be presented by B.McNelis, IT Power, UK.

The Solar Development Corporation (SDC):
The SDC is a joint initiative between The World Bank Group and Foundations; its relationship to PV GAP will be presented by Mr. Richard Spencer of The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA.

Installation and Maintenance Certification
The Institute for Sustainable Power, Inc., is pursuing a parallel effort, in conjunction with PV GAP, to develop a global training accreditation and certification program for PV systems design, installation, and maintenance; presented by Mark Fitzgerald, ISP, USA.