4.1 IECQ philosophy

Under IECQ, which for 20 years has been dealing with all types of electronic components, from bulky TV tubes down to hardly visible surface-mounting resistors and capacitors, typically produced in high volume on fully-automated production lines, the traditional philosophy is that the manufacturer carries out all testing on his own premises, under SI supervision. Only for tests that he is not equipped to perform does the manufacturer resort to the use of an external testing laboratory.

For PV modules, however, the manufacturer is much more likely to resort to external testing laboratories, in particular for the specialized tests of IEC 61215 and IEC 61646.

An external testing laboratory may be an IECQ-accredited Independent Testing Laboratory, or a laboratory, not necessarily accredited, that is acceptable to the SI concerned (then the manufacturer should obtain the prior approval of the SI before testing begins). In both cases the laboratory will be at the level of ISO/IEC 17025 [7] compliance.

4.2 RWE Schott Solar

RWE Schott Solar, in agreement with the SI, VDE Testing and Certification Institute, opted for mainly in-house testing of its framed thin-film modules ASI-F 2/12 to 10/12 to IEC 61646 (the Detail Specification comes into play after the initial type approval, for the lot-by-lot and periodic testing). For the specialized tests such as UV and hail, VDE arranged for the testing to be conducted in an accredited external laboratory.

The testing took the several months necessary according to the IEC 61646 requirements and finished successfully at the end of 2002.

As can be expected, by testing in-house the manufacturer gathers first-hand experience with the tests and may feel that there is room for improvement, in a revised version of the Standard. In fact, TC 82 is already working on this for IEC 61215, with some 15 projected improvements.

RWE Schott Solar has reported in the press this year that with the structural similarity concept and the definition in the Detail Specification of the limited tests that are needed for defined changes to a module, at least one third of the cost of testing can be saved.

In the meantime, RWE Schott Solar has also completed testing of its ASI OPAK and ASI THRU frameless thin-film modules for facades and roof integrated systems.

4.3 Photowatt International

The path taken by Photowatt International, which wished to obtain the PV Quality Mark for its PW 1250 – PW 1650 crystalline silicon modules, was different, in that they had recently obtained complete IEC 61215 (including UV) test reports from JRC ESTI Ispra.

As ESTI is COFRAC accredited for IEC 61215 testing, the test reports were accepted by the SI LCIE/SNQ, so that no further type approval testing was necessary. For the lot-by-lot and periodic testing, Photowatt International will consider with the SI whether, and to what extent, the testing will be conducted in-house under supervision or in an external laboratory.

5. IECQ CERTIFICATION

When testing has been successfully completed, the SI recommends to its designated certification body (often within the same organisation) the granting of IECQ Qualification Approval. A QA certificate is issued, and the approval is registered.

RWE Schott Solar’s IECQ product certification was announced during "Electronica" in November 2002 in Munich.

The process of using a recent test report from an accredited PV testing laboratory, together with a valid ISO 9001 certificate, to obtain IECQ certification is very rapid. It is an inexpensive process because, if everything is in order, the SI only has to review three papers.

Photowatt International’s IECQ product certification, using this process, was completed in March 2003.

Several other module manufacturers are probably in a position to be able to follow this rapid route immediately.

It is important to note that, under the IECQ, everything concerning the certification is formally prescribed in publicly available documents, and is captured and referenced in the IECQ Detail Specification. This tells the manufacturer precisely what he has to do, which is a strong point in favour of user confidence in the IECQ methodology.

6. OBTAINING THE "PV QUALITY MARK"

PV GAP’s "PV Quality Mark" (and PV Quality Seal for systems) is licensed to the Industry Associations that support PV GAP, who in turn sublicense the Mark to the manufacturer as soon as he has obtained the necessary IECQ certification. The Mark is always to be accompanied by the Sublicense number, for traceability.

The Associations are presently JEMA, EPIA and SEIA. Thus both RWE Schott Solar and Photowatt International are sublicensed by EPIA to use the PV Quality Mark, for an annual fee of between $250 and $3000, depending upon annual turnover in PV at the manufacturing site concerned, and for any number of approvals.

Manufacturers outside Japan, Europe and the USA are licensed directly from PV GAP headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The "PV Quality Mark" is shown in Fig.1. It is already in use on Photowatt International PW 1250 and PW 1650 module labels.

xxx-S-xx-xxxx

Fig. 1 "PV Quality Mark", with Sublicense number