Why Is The Implementation Of Compulsory Certification Of Photovoltaic Modules In India Not Satisfactory?

According to the news from Mercom of India, with the rapid development of photovoltaic installed capacity in India, the attention paid to the quality of photovoltaic equipment has received more and more attention.

Aware of this problem, the Ministry of New Energy and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of India issued a series of guidelines to guide the testing of photovoltaic modules. 

These tests must be performed by the laboratory in order to pass the mandatory registration of the Indian Bureau of Standards (BIS). 

Although the guidelines for these tests were generally welcomed by the industry, they did not produce the expected results. Instead, the manufacturers did not line up to accept component certification as expected. 

According to reports, only 10-12 Indian and foreign component manufacturers have passed BIS certification. 

A new test lab official said that they have received more than 30 consultations on testing and certification, but none of them can continue, mainly because the test guidelines issued by MNRE are still somewhat confusing. 

In addition, it takes time to complete the certification. Many component vendors submitted test samples in April and did not pass the final certification until September-October. 

And a test lab related to BIS certification said: “The time required for the lab depends on various factors. For example, what certifications need to be done, when the samples arrive, and how much labor is at the time of the lab. It is difficult to clearly state the time spent on BIS certification. 

A component manufacturer says the certification process can take 3 to 6 months. 

In addition, some small component manufacturers have expressed concern about this. 

2020 Previously, the Indian government exempted domestic PV module manufacturers with a capacity of less than 50MW from BIS certification. 

India Ritika Systems welcomes its component capacity of less than 50MW, but also believes that BIS is similar to IEC standards, even in Some places are not exactly the same. 

Ritika Systems has passed the IEC standard certification, the BIS standard is not so different. The cost of testing each series of components requires 32,000 US dollars, 5-6 series requires 20 270,000 US dollars. For medium-sized enterprises, this is also a lot of expenses. In addition, even a small bill of materials (BOM) Changes should be repeated. If there is a relaxation in this area, it will help small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Another component manufacturing company said that PV is currently in a very bad direction and is not moving in the right direction. 

Price has dropped, you have no profit. In this case, you have to make concessions on quality. At this price, it is meaningless to apply for certification. 

Currently, there are only four PV module testing laboratories in India - TUV , UL, NISE and HiPhysix. Therefore, many foreign companies have also targeted India's PV module testing and certification market. 

Recently, Mitsui announced that it plans to establish a component testing and certification laboratory in Gujarat with PIBerlin.