SOLPVLAB - Accredited PV Module testing Lab
CENER is accredited by the Spanish National Accreditation Entity (ENAC) and also by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for testing PV modules according to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. The accreditation scope covers IEC standards for all PV technologies: IEC-61215-1(all subparts), IEC61215-2, IEC-61730-(1&2) , IEC-62108, IECTS60804-1 (PID) and IEC TS 60904-13 (EL). CENER is member of the IEC System for Conformity Assessment (IECEE Scheme) as Certification Body Testing Laboratory (CBTL) for PV modules. Equipment available are: flash solar simulator, continuous solar simulator, and climatic chambers. CENER has also the possibility of testing PV modules in outdoor conditions in Sarriguren and in Almeria when high dose and continuous radiation is required.
In addition, as a member of IEC’s technical committee, TC-82, CENER participates actively in normalization tasks included in working groups, WG-2 - Modules non-concentrating, WG-7 Concentrating PV modules, WG-3 systems and WG-8 Photovoltaic (PV) cells. Based on CENER’s normalization and certification knowledge, a set of good practices in characterizing solar photovoltaic devices based on organic and perovskites materials in relation with current available standards have been developed.
Apart from all the tests included in those standards and taking advantage of the experience gained through their application in many products of different technologies, degradation protocols based on accelerating aging tests ISOS (ISOS-D, ISOS-O, ISOS-L, ISOS-T and ISOS-LT) from Basic (level 1) to Advanced (level 3) combining humidity – temperature and radiation in climatic chambers and outdoor test can be implemented in order to study the degradation factors for emerging PV technologies. All the equipment, tests and activities performed in the PV Module testing Lab of CENER are following requirements of ISO-17025 concerning calibration and operations.
