TÜV SÜD America Inc. has combined efforts with Renewable Energy Test Centre LLC (RETC)—a partnership that will speed up the certification process for renewable energy technologies.
RETC will be certifying photovoltaics and renewable energy products with additional services such as third-party outdoor performance and reliability testing. RETC’s location in Silicon Valley, its semiconductor-experienced engineers and process knowledge, in addition to the expected solar market growth in the US are all advantages it plans to use to the full.
TÜV SÜD has strived to offer one-stop shop capabilities for PV testing and certification services for many years and is a well-respected name in testing. It currently has IEC 61215, IEC 61646, IEC 61730, and UL 1741 accreditation and is looking to use this partnership to gain UL 1703 qualifications and establish an international presence.
“RETC management team believes [a long waiting period for certification] is constraining the advancement of solar energy technologies,” remarked Alelie Funcell, President/CEO of RETC. “This PV testing bottleneck offers a strategic market entry opportunity for RETC to ramp up its planned testing capabilities starting in North America.“
“The collaboration with RETC reinforces our commitment to increase safety and value for our customers,” stated Karsten Xander, President/CEO of TÜV SÜD America. “More importantly, it combines RETC’s rigorous, high-quality, process-driven semiconductor thinking, resulting in a mature, experienced partner to help navigate through the very new, complex, and rapidly growing PV market,”
