Aug 23 2010
TUV Rheinland has opened its seventh laboratory worldwide in Electronics City in the Indian city of Bangalore for testing solar modules and systems.
The world leader in independent safety and quality testing for solar modules has invested €2 million in the new solar test centre, which in particular will offer services to India's growing solar industry. In this way, TUV Rheinland is filling a significant gap for Indian industry, which previously did not have access to large test facilities on such a scale. The test centre has 2,000 square metres of space, including an outside test field of 500 square metres, with equipment such as five climate chambers and two sun simulators. This makes it one of the most up to date PV testing laboratories in the entire South Asian economic area.
"Our investment programme for the solar industry aims to place our services within easy reach of companies in and for all booming markets and to offer them large test capacities. India cannot be neglected here. In addition, all our customers can call upon the decades of expertise gained by our now 180 experts around the world to test and certify systems, modules and components", declared Friedrich Hecker, CEO of TUV Rheinland AG. This is made possible by the extremely close interlinking of all seven of TUV Rheinland's test laboratories. This goes for both photovoltaics and solar thermal technology.
The new test centre located in Electronics City strengthens TUV Rheinland's service offering in India for solar power stations, encompassing planning, consulting, operation and maintenance. In addition, services will be provided for ensuring the quality and safety of modules and components, as well as monitoring production quality. When testing and certifying according to IEC and other international standards, the experts in the laboratory can make use of the latest test facilities.
Around 80% of all solar module manufacturers have their products tested at TUV Rheinland in order to obtain national and international certification. TUV Rheinland operates test laboratories for solar modules worldwide and aside from Bangalore, has test centres in Germany (Cologne), Shanghai, the Taiwanese city of Taichun, in Tempe, Arizona and two facilities in Yokohama (GTAC and SEAC) which recently expanded their accreditations and now include ANSI/UL 1703. All laboratories comply with the latest technical standards, as they have been launched or modernised in the last 24 months.
"All our laboratories are working closely together and contribute to our global PV business. We are delighted about the opening of the new Indian facility which will enable us to cover the expanding demand and expected growth in the Asian region and continue to offer tailor made solutions that suit the needs of our customers", says Mr. Stefan Kiehn, Head of the PV testing facilities at TUV Rheinland Japan.