Distributed Solar Quality and Safety in India: Key Challenges and Potential Solutions

This report provides solar quality and safety information and best practices that can help increase confidence in RTPV in India, particularly for small-capacity systems, and thus accelerate the growth of that sector.

In India, the quality and safety of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems—and their installation—have become a concern for investors, regulators, consumers, and distribution companies (discoms). The lack of quality standards and a push for low prices has led to the installation of poor-quality products and inferior system design and execution on-site (Devi et al. 2018). These low-quality systems deliver less energy than expected and have a lower overall lifespan, which are serious issues for developers and investors whose return on investment depends on the amount of power generated from these solar systems for the expected life of the project. Equipment that does not conform to minimum quality standards also creates safety risks for businesses and homeowners.

New data stemming from expert interviews and a stakeholder workshop shed light on common quality and safety technical issues at various stages of a rooftop photovoltaic (RTPV) system’s life and potential solutions for addressing them. To achieve the goal of a low-cost system with high energy yield, best practices must be followed at each stage of system life.

Key challenges in Rooftop Photovoltaic Solar (RPTV) Quality Safety include:

Operations and maintenance
System commissioning
Installation
System quote
Site analysis
System Design

The new data and analysis are used to identify a prioritized approach to addressing the most common RTPV issues. This approach takes the form of a quality-assurance framework comprising: 1) a Module Quality Assurance program, 2) a Safety Quality Assurance program, and 3) a Vendor Rating Framework (VRF).

Read the report, here!