Kiwa and Sinovoltaics partner to provide ‘one-stop-shop’ for PV testing, inspection and certification

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The drive for diligence within the PV industry continues to grow with the widespread adoption of the technology. A new strategic partnership between testing, inspection and certification company Kiwa NV and quality assurance consulting firm Sinovoltaics Group is promising to reduce risk to IPP’s, utility companies, EPCs and financial institutions with their extended ‘one-stop-shop’ suite of services.

The joint venture combines Sinovoltaics’ on-site quality assurance at the solar PV equipment factories in Asia with Kiwa’s PV Modules laboratories and inspection services. The partnered services for solar plant investors and developers will include PV testing, de-risking, certification, and impartial PV continuous power generation PV field inspection services.

“For several months we have been actively seeking a partnership like the one together with Sinovoltaics in order to provide a one-stop-shop service to our customers, especially for the Asian market,” said Luca Votta, international business manager for solar and wind at Kiwa.

Offering on-site testing and factory audits at production factories in Asia, Dutch-German consulting firm Sinovoltaics Group focuses on the technical de-risking of PV and energy storage assets. The company says that it detected defects in 64.8% of inspected shipments, involving PV modules, inverters, BOS components and storage in 2018.

“We are looking forward to offering PV laboratory testing with one of the fastest turnaround times in the PV industry that CBTL Kiwa is able to provide, and which is unique amongst Certification Bodies,” said Dricus de Rooij, managing director at Sinovoltaics Group.

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Sinovoltaics currently serves IPPs, utility companies, and financial institutions from six continents. The clients “apply our Zero Risk Solar framework to their PV projects and have their equipment tested on-site at the PV factories in Asia by our team,” said Niclas D. Weimar, CTO at Sinovoltaics Group. “Reliability testing in the laboratory offers an extra layer of safety for our clients, and with Kiwa’s laboratory testing our clients benefit from a full scope of technical risk management services.” 

Kiwa says that stepping into this cooperation will now allow for the company to offer the market a full impartial testing, inspection, and certification service. “Starting from upstream component certification and all the way through impartial due diligences, in-line inspection, pre-shipment inspection, sampling lab testing, and final inspection before and after commissioning ,” said Michel Wouters, general manager of Kiwa Taiwan ltd. who is responsible for market development in Asia, adding that the newly available partnered service offering will allow industry stakeholders to receive the most optimized performance for their PV pants.

For additional information on the newly available combined services, visit Kiwa and Sinovoltaics.

 

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