Insolvent Germany-based PV module manufacturer Solar-Fabrik has teamed with technical service and support firm, Suncycle to provide a repair programme for its previously reported junction box failures that could potentially cause fires.
Suncycle had previously been employed by bankrupt Scheuten Solar’s insurance company to provide test and repair solutions for a faulty designed junction box potentially used on around 650,000 of its modules, primarily in Europe. In this case a number of rooftop fires had been attributed to the faulty junction box design.
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Solar-Fabrik said that it had an online testing tool and a method of repairing the defective junction boxes with Suncycle, but also where required a replacement would be available.
Suncycle is hosting an online tool which enables owners and installers to check serial numbers of the modules of the faulty production batch of junction boxes.
Solar-Fabrik noted that its PV module certificates would remain valid after the repairs undertaken by Suncycle. Plant operators throughout Europe can also instruct the repairs immediately, according to Solar-Fabrik
The module manufacturer also recently announced that it had court approval to discontinues operations on June 30, 2015 under self-administration and retain up to 75 employees at its Freiburg operations into a transfer company. A further 15 employees would be retained to support management with the insolvency proceedings
The issue with faulty junction boxes was officially announced after Solar-Fabrik had entered insolvency proceedings, said by the company to have been a precautionary move due to a short-term liquidity issue.
