Gong Haidan, Director of Suntech PV Testing Center Was Invited to Attend PVTD Seminar and Deliver A Speech

It was reported that this seminar aimed ‘to take the lead in the development of PV module technology in 2019’ and invited the technical backbones of various fields of PV industry including silicon wafer, cell, module, supporting materials of module, related equipment and PV system, testing and certification, etc. and jointly discussed the development trend of PV industry in 2019. There was a heated discussion at the seminar，and some topics were raised, such as ‘What types of modules technology will lead the trend of development in 2019’, ‘Solutions to improve the reliability of modules’ and ‘Power station owners’ attitudes toward the cost of PV modules performance’, these questions were all answered by professionals in the seminar.

In the seminar, the director Gong Haidan shared the failure mechanism of PV module in hot and humid environment outdoor and analyzed the influence of different permeable backsheet and EVA on the reliability of modules in high humidity environment by showing the experimental data of Suntech PV testing center. At the end of the speech, director Gong Haidan had put forward a series of newest theoretical results of such as ‘bifacial module and module that has aluminum framing don’t exist the phenomenon of acetic acid corrosion’, ‘Select low permeable backsheet matching with EVA encapsulation of low VA content’ and ‘Respirable backsheet still needs further research’ etc. These newest theoretical results leading to a positive discussion in the industry.

As we all know that, Suntech modules always own a reputation for high quality, especially in projects in hot and humid areas, Suntech modules still have reliable power generation. Just last month, Suntech half-cell modules had passed high-temperature high-humidity and high intensity UV combined test and obtained the certification report issued by Prufstelle Testing and Certification Institute (VDE). It is known that Suntech PV testing center and VDE have jointly developed the compound rigorous testing scheme combined high temperature, high humidity and high intensity UV, which means that the same module not only needs to withstand the temperature of 85°C, relative humidity of 85°C and 1000 hours test but also performed UV exposure simultaneously in total of 120kWh/㎡ under this hot and humid test process. This scheme could be more effective to simulate the actual tropical humid climate while Suntech could pass such a stringent test, further reflecting its outstanding pursuit of quality.

The reliable quality of Suntech modules is not only attributed to the stringent requirements in the production process but its own PV testing laboratory also plays an important part. Suntech’s product inspection and testing center is mainly engaged in the inspection and testing of solar PV products, which fully conforms to the management requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 General Requirements for Testing and Calibration Laboratory Capabilities and owns world-leading testing ability in the PV industry. The testing center was established in 2008 with an investment of about 30 million yuan divided into two parts indoor and outdoor with an indoor area of 3,200 square meters and an outdoor area of 3,000 square meters, which was the largest self-owned PV testing laboratory built in the industry at that time. It follows the principle of controlling from the source, and evaluates strictly for cell production material, meanwhile, it is also the first agency that requests for sampling inspection from production line regularly, though it took more time and increased cost, but from the point of quality, only in this way can achieve performance guarantee of modules for 25 years.

In 2009, the testing center was approved by UL, which is the first testing laboratory of PV products in China and also recognized by VDE at the same year, the first one in Asia. In 2010, the testing center was granted the national laboratory accreditation certificate of China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS), becoming the laboratory with the earliest and most complete qualification in the industry and this year, it was granted the ‘Laboratory TMP’ qualification of TÜV Rheinland, proves that the Suntech PV testing center fully meets the external laboratory management standards of TÜV Rheinland in all directions in terms of personnel qualification, equipment qualification, facilities and environmental conditions and so on.