UL and China’s grid authority to partner on renewable energy standards and solar R&D centre

The State Grid Electric Power Research Institute of China (SGEPRI) is to work with Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to advance standards and development practices for renewable energy. Authorized by National Energy Administration, SGEPRI will also establish a National Solar Energy R&D Center, and undertake standards development, testing capabilities as well as technical evaluation & certification, and training.

"The application of renewable energy in China is coming to a critical point, so determining how to safely connect photovoltaic (PV) systems to the grid is critical for China," noted Mr. Yi Hu, Vice President, SGEPRI. "By leveraging UL's expertise in product testing and standards development, SGEPRI can further solidify our role as China's primary scientific research and development organization for power grid connections. The alliance gives us the tools we need to develop and achieve a set of world-class standards, testing capabilities and technical evaluation for power grid connections of renewable energy, and paves the way for the application of new and clean energy in China."

"Underwriters Laboratories understands that safety and reliability issues play a critical role in the way renewable energy systems perform and ultimately influence the continued development of renewable energy," said Weifang Zhou, Vice President and General Manager, UL Greater China.

The partners expect to roll-out new advanced standards and development practices throughout China while providing training to industry on safety certification, components testing, and equipment calibration and measurement.