Mar 4 2011
PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), an advanced PV testing Lab is setting up two State-of-the-art independent solar testing units in North California, which would help them to provide a superlative PV reliability and performance evaluation.
These facilities have been launched in Berkeley (lab services) and Davis in California (outdoor field testing).
PVEL has signed a long term agreement with PV-USA in Davis for utilizing five acres in the 90 acre site of the historic building for independent measurements of the capacity and yield of energy in a commercial power plant. Another agreement was signed for the lab and office space, which was available beside an 11000 square foot yard space at 1360, 5th street in Berkeley where the former Flint Ink factory was situated.
PVEL’s CEO, Jenya Meydbray has remarked that they were delighted to build their specialized solar panel test units in the heart of the clean tech community. According to her, both the cities of Berkeley and Davis have always shown commitment towards development of the flourishing solar industry in the North American region. The PV-USA test center is a grid –connected commercial solar power plant. It was the foremost solar plant in North America developed by PG&E by the name of PV for utility scale applications (PV-USA) for evaluating the impact of high penetration solar on the grid. The well known California Energy Commission (CEC) PTC rating had been developed on this location. PTC refers to PV-USA test conditions and this rating is identified as a real measure of PV output due to the fact that testing conditions are very close to the real-world conditions in contrast to the STC rating.
Matt Cheney, Managing Director and CEO of CleanPath Ventures, the owner and operator of the PV-USA stated that this center with a 25 year experience has seen a diverse range of PV technologies that include thin-film, crystalline silicon, and concentrators. He added that PVEL’s test center was the next step and new contribution to the industry by the plant. This test center would generate independent data, which would prove to be invaluable and essential for companies, which develop and deploy the latest solar products. PVEL helps PV manufacturers speed up the PV product quality and the time required to market while giving their investors vital data at the same time.