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Quality Control and Testing for PV Solar Modules


solar farm aerial view

Proactively Identify and Prevent Solar Module Defects

The solar industry is simultaneously experiencing the highest demand, fastest technological innovation, and greatest uncertainty in its history. These three facets have all contributed to a rapidly changing environment where technologies, factories, workshops, and workers are updated, replaced, and brought online at an unprecedented pace - the perfect recipe for defects.

Quality issues and defects that can impact the lifetime operation and performance of your project can occur at any time during design, manufacturing, shipping, installation, or operation. However, rapid advancements have made defects a regular occurrence amongst even the most mature and advanced suppliers.

Clean Energy Associates provides a complete quality assurance solution that covers the entire product lifecycle and provides peace of mind by:

  • Reducing technical and financial risk

  • Protecting solar investments

  • Ensuring future energy-producing viability for the life of the product

 

Pre-Production Solar Module Factory Audits


CEA PV Factory Audit Quality Control

CEA’s industry-leading experience inspecting solar suppliers and factories across the globe utilizes our advanced internal database of historical trends and issues to provide a robust and comprehensive view of a factories defect risk.

CEA’s factory audits provide industry-leading insights into production processes and quality standards at any solar and storage factory globally using a 1,000+ point checklist. Every finding is recorded and classified according to its risk potential, and CEA follows up with the supplier on all issues that are not immediately solved.

CEA’s Factory Audits cover:

  • Administrative Policies and Practices

  • Quality and Reliability Policies and Practices

  • Facility Certifications Audit​

  • Management and Employee Training Audit​

  • Production Process and Materials Management Audit​

  • Finished Product Loading and Logistics Management Audit​

  • In-House Testing Laboratory Management Audit​

  • Factory And Supplier Processes and Documentation

 

Inline Production Process Monitoring


CEA’s inline production process monitoring sends experienced quality control engineers to the manufacturing facilities during production of your product to verify BOM compliance, inspect manufacturing conditions, verify calibration of equipment, and monitor the production line for issues. CEA’s robust process monitoring can be calibrated and adjusted from as frequent as 24/7 monitoring to a cadence that satisfies your needs and budget.

When an issue is found, CEA immediately informs the factory to fix the issue on the spot. Every finding is recorded and classified according to its risk potential, and CEA follows up with the supplier on all issues that are not immediately solved.

CEA’s Inline Production Process Monitoring covers:

  • Conformity of Materials to the Contracted BOM (Bill of Materials)

  • Incoming Materials Quality Control and Inspection

  • Equipment And Production Line Maintenance and Calibration

  • Inline QC Monitoring

  • Packaging And Warehouse Inspections

 

Final Product (Pre-Shipment) Inspections


Visual Inspection Finished PV Module

CEA’s comprehensive pre-shipment inspections identify defects exceeding the AQL standards and ensure defective products are not shipped. Identifying and removing defective products reduces risk and optimizes the performance and life of your products.

Through CEA’s Pre-Shipment Inspections, you will gain:

  • Comprehensive visual and EL test reports detailing every defect identified according to severity, including AQL limits per batch and which defects have been reworked or removed from the shipment

  • Comprehensive IV (flash) test reports detailing the minimum, maximum and average power of each sampled module, including the required pass criteria.

  • Access to CEA’s on-the-ground technology and quality experts who provide recommendations to the supplier to improve their processes and reduce defects over time

 

Container Loading Monitoring (CLM)


PV Container Loading Monitoring

Inadequate loading practices by the factory can result in damaged finished PV modules either during loading of the containers or at some point during transportation. Further, finished products that were previously rejected by CEA or that were not inspected by a third party altogether may end up getting shipped without oversight.

CEA’s container loading monitoring oversees the loading of the finished product to ensure conformance with packaging and loading specifications and to ensure the boxes/pallets loaded into the shipping container come exclusively from the inspected and approved lots.

Our engineers confirm the final products are safely loaded without damage, secured, sealed, and accurately recorded on the Bill of Lading. CEA’s container loading monitoring reports include comprehensive details covering every container, seal, and pallet number with accompanying photos.

 

Logistics Management and Shipment Tracking


PV Module Logistics Management shipment tracking

When working with overseas manufacturers on large PV projects, shipment and container tracking can quickly get complicated once the product has left the factory grounds.

CEA’s logistic management services help our customers capture baseline shipping schedules per the manufacturers and report on shipment progress to final destination on key milestones, including:

  • shipment content

  • date shipped from facility

  • onboarded to shipping mode

  • expected arrival at destination

  • customs cleared

  • picked up at port

  • actual arrival at destination

 

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