Increased demand for PV modules has created new challenges for manufacturers in an increasingly competitive marketplace. New suppliers and factories are entering the fray and as advanced production technologies are rapidly adopted, the industry faces the risk of more PV module manufacturing defects and operational issues.

In this pv magazine Webinar, we’ll explore the performance and safety issues that can arise from common faults and the steps that can be taken to prevent them. Experts from Clean Energy Associates (CEA), George Touloupas, senior director of technology and quality for PV and BESS, Jörg Althaus, director, engineering and quality assurance services, and Cara Zhu, associate director of modules, will present findings on the most common issues seen in PV manufacturing factories, based on their latest inspection data. CEA’s experience helping clients on over 250 GW of PV projects has given them a wealth of data to draw upon and inform conclusions. In addition to inspection data from the factory floor, our guest speakers will delve into the most recent results from laboratory testing performed as part of their quality assurance work.

Problems that emerge in factories can compromise module efficiency and pose safety risks further down the road, and in this webinar, we’ll also examine case studies that showcase common quality issues and defects, their typical root causes and discuss what steps can be taken to prevent these issues.

pv magazine Webinar content:

• Examination of factory inspection and module test data
• Lessons from pre-production factory audits, in-line production monitoring, pre-shipment inspections, container loading monitoring, and batch testing
• Discussion of production pain points
• Case studies based on common issues seen in PV factories
• Q&A

We encourage you to take part in the discussion and ask questions, which can be submitted beforehand or through a chat window during the webinar. Matthew Lynas, editor at pv magazine, will be the moderator of this webinar.

The registration for this webinar is free of charge.

Speakers

George Touloupas | Senior Director of Technology and Quality for PV and BESS, CEA

George Touloupas is Senior Director of Technology and Quality for PV and BESS in CEA. Since 2010 George has been active in technical consulting for PV and energy storage projects, as well as in PV manufacturing, EPC and project development. He joined CEA in 2015 and has since been leading the technology and quality team for solar and energy storage, and recently for green hydrogen. Prior to CEA, he held positions as Chief Operating & Technical Officer at Philadelphia Solar in Jordan, as Technical Operations Director at Recom and as an EPC and project developer in Greece.

Jörg Althaus | Director, Engineering and Quality Assurance Services, CEA

Jörg Althaus is Director, Clean Energy Engineering and Quality Assurance Services at Clean Energy Associates. Before joining CEA he held various regional and global management positions at TÜV Rheinland. As a technical expert, he was project leader on various standards within the IEC, technical committee 82 focusing on PV module test standards.

Cara Zhu | Associate Director of Modules, CEA

Cara Zhu is the Associate Director of Modules. She has over 12 years of experience in the photovoltaic (PV) industry. She has conducted more than 1.5 GW of quality assurance (QA) and factory audits in China, South Korea, the USA, and Canada. Cara’s career began as a Customer Service Executive at Honeywell, followed by a role as a Senior Customer Service Executive in the Technical Service team at Jinko Solar. In these positions, she oversaw the execution of customer and third-party factory audits. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University and a master’s in project management from Fudan University. Cara is certified in ISO9001 Internal Audit, SA8000 Audit, and PMP. She is fluent in Chinese, Korean, and English.

Moderators

Matthew Lynas | Editor, pv magazine