Background
The photovoltaic industry has been investigating several avenues
to reduce the cost of solar electricity. One potential way to reduce
the cost is to make use of Concentrator Photovoltaics (CPV). The
primary reasons for the potential cost reduction of CPV are due
to the reduced area and improved efficiency of the solar cells.
It is of great importance to ensure that the designs of field installed
CPV modules would be reliable in terms of performance and safety.
One way to ensure that the designs meet the stress conditions of
the field is to test and qualify these modules using a consensus
based, unbiased test protocol or standards.
Both performance and safety standards (national and international)
have already been developed for the flat-plate PV modules. These
standards are extensively used by the industry for the design qualification
and safety testing of flat-plate PV modules. Many domestic and international
manufacturers are in the verge of producing commercial CPV modules
for the industry. In order to test and qualify these CPV modules,
there is an urgent need to develop national and international standards.
An IEEE standard, IEEE 1513: Recommended Practice for Qualification
of Photovoltaic (PV) Concentrator Modules, has recently been developed
and published for the design qualification of CPV modules. Since
the PV modules are manufactured for the global/export market, it
becomes necessary to develop a consensus based international standard,
IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), for the design
and safety qualifications of CPV modules.
The IEEE 1513 standard was published in 2001. In the years 2000
and 2001, the IEEE 1513 standard development activities were coordinated
by the Arizona State University Photovoltaic Testing Laboratory
(ASU-PTL) team for the successful balloting in 2001. Following the
publication of this standard, ASU-PTL secured an accreditation for
the qualification testing of CPV modules per IEEE 1513 standard.
Also, the Laboratory initiated a qualification testing of CPV modules
per IEEE 1513 for a major domestic manufacturer. ASU-PTL is currently
the only accredited testing laboratory in the world for the qualification
testing of CPV modules.
Objective
The objective of this project is to develop, coordinate and publish
an IEC standard for design qualification of Concentrator PV modules
by the end of 2006. The activities related to this standard, IEC
62108: Concentrator Photovoltaic (PV) Receivers and Modules - Design
Qualification and Type Approval, have already been initiated by
IEC/TC82/WG7 committee. To achieve this objective, the standard
needs to undergo several revisions to address all suggestions and
comments of IEC/TC82 member countries. In addition, new changes
to the standard need to be validated or supported by the existing
experimental data. Finally, the formal voting/balloting and publishing
procedures of IEC shall be strictly followed.
If time and budget permit, a second but optional objective is to
explore and initiate the development of additional IEC Concentrator
PV related standards recommended by the international Concentrator
PV community. These standards may include: tracker standard, safety
standard, and direct normal irradiance spectrum standard.
