| Quality
Assurance
A
major barrier to the development of markets for stand-alone
PV systems is the lack of good quality national and international
standards and QA procedures. This is illustrated by the fact
that the quality of PV systems up to now has varied considerably.
As a result of these poor quality systems in the past, the
markets of today are impeded.
The
issue of performance guarantees for PV systems is extremely
complex, not least because of the many different players involved
in the design, supply, installation, operation and maintenance
of a PV system. To guarantee the quality level of an installed
system each party must have a contractual responsibility:
from the identification of the customer's energy requirements,
through to installation, operation and maintenance activities.
Each
stage in the life cycle of a PV system must be considered
as a potential source of system failure; most of the maintenance
and repair requirements result from failures in the specification,
design, and installation of the system.
Experts
worked on both methodological and practical aspects of
quality assurance to provide end users and programme managers
with guidance for the management of systems, projects and
programmes.
Quality assurance schemes have been developed that will lead
to a warranty of service for the end user at a reasonable
cost.
Work
completed:
- Survey
of National and International Standards, Guidelines & QA Procedures for Stand-alone PV Systems (more...)
- Quality
Management of Stand-alone PV System: Recommended Practices,
first draft
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