PV module manufacturer, Seraphim Solar System has been awarded ‘Thresher' certification from TÜV SÜD, the first company to do so.
The Thresher test was developed by a number of PV manufacturers, materials provider Dupont and Solar Power Partners in partnership with TÜV SÜD to provide investors, PV power plant owners and alike a better understanding and insight into the longer-term reliability and power output performance of modules, which standard tests (IEC61215) do not provide.
Testing for the Thresher can include temperature cycles and up to 2,000 hours of damp heat testing with and without system voltage bias being applied.
Robert Puto, TÜV SÜD global director of photovoltaics, said: “The traditional IEC 61215+IEC 61730 certification alone is not sufficient response to the concerns about the reliability of PV modules. Thresher Mark is a new reliability protocol developed based on the conventional tests of photovoltaic silicon modules.
"The modules will be placed under extended environmental and power output tests, challenging the ability of the module to perform safely and reliably in the long term. The Thresher protocol is a very useful diagnostic tool to detect lifetime criticalities. PV modules that pass the Thresher Certification offer a much higher level of confidence in terms of long-term reliability as compared to those having only certification. I’m very happy to see the Chinese company like Seraphim continuously invest in quality to be the 1st Thresher Certification Mark owner. ”
Polaris Li, general manager of Seraphim Solar System said: “It is generally believed that the lifetime of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules is 25-30 years, but in the field practical applications, some PV power plants suffer from underperforming energy output.
“In order to guarantee the lifetime with a stable power output of our PV module, we started to submit our product to TÜV SÜD for the Thresher, which test the PV modules under three times [more] stringent environmental conditions than the traditional certification, we are very proud of and confident with our modules’ long-term durability and reliability, this is not only a single test but a milestone for the industry.”
Seraphim also noted that it had collaborated with backsheet material supplier, Fujifilm, to enable extended lifetime requirements.
