Lighting Global to Submit Quality Standards to IEC this Month
Lighting Global is preparing to submit quality standards for pico-solar products and for plug-and-play solar home system kits to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) by May 1, 2018. This will make it easier for national governments to adopt standards that are fully harmonized. This, in turn, will benefit the sector by minimizing the amount of customization required, reduce barriers to entry, and give consumers access to the broad variety of innovative and affordable off-grid solar products on the global market.
The GOGLA Technology Working Group and Board of Directors deliberated on the proposal and agreed last week that it is in the industry’s interest for the IEC to adopt pico-PV and SHS kit standards. Also this week, the national committee representatives to the IEC voted to take the first step toward adopting the standards.
These will be the first quality standards for off-grid solar products adopted by the IEC and will build upon the existing IEC test methods (IEC/TS 62257-9-5). The standards are based on the Lighting Global Quality Standards with certain changes, as discussed on the webinar hosted by GOGLA on February 15. You can find the pre-read document, presentation slides, and a summary of the webinar here.
Upon submission to the IEC, the standards will enter a multi-stage review process. National governments, product producers and distributors, and others are encouraged to participate in this process. Industry representatives interested in participating can contact GOGLA for more information. Others are encouraged to contact the Lighting Global Quality Assurance team.
If all goes well, the IEC will adopt quality standards for pico-solar products and solar home system kits in early 2019. These standards will be a tool governments can use in their efforts to safeguard markets against poor-quality products.
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