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50 April 2010 SOLAR TODAY solartoday.org
FROM LINE TO MARKET
Certification for Concentrated Photovoltaic Modules
BY KENNY VILLEGAS
When a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) manufacturer completes design and assembly of a solar product, the work is just beginning. To reach market, the product must also be certified according to the regulatory requirements
set by the installation site’s country and regional location.
CPV module safety standards are still relatively immature. The European
standard for Concentrator Photovoltaic Modules and Assemblies, IEC 62108,
first published in 2008, is in the process of adding a stronger emphasis on safety
to its current performance emphasis. The United States standard for Concentrator Photovoltaic Modules and Assemblies, UL 8703, is in the process of being
published.
Unlocking the mysteries presented by the safety certification of CPV modules, especially for companies new to
this type of process, requires a comprehensive understanding of the safety investigation required. Once a
CPV module safety investigation is opened with the
certification laboratory, the investigation follows five
stages: preliminary investigation, construction review,
test program, final review and production inspection.
Kenny Villegas ( kenny@solar-compliance.com) is president of Solar Compliance llC. He was responsible for achieving
the world’s first Ul listing for a solar concentrator module system (Energy Innovations). He is an appointed expert in Europe’s IEC Working Group 7 (concentrator PV
modules and assemblies) standards committee and Ul’s Standards Technical Panel
for Ul 8703 (the Standard for Concentrator Photovoltaic Modules and assemblies).
Get detailed information
about each of these stages in
the full version of Villegas’ article,
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THE BIZ
Make Word of Mouth Work Harder
BY JYL SAFIER
Many small-business owners report that a large proportion
of customer inquiries come through
word of mouth. Happy customers
can be your best assets. On its own
however, this is a passive approach to
generating new business.
“Passive!” you scoff. “Providing
excellent service, responsiveness and
competitive pricing to win the trust
and admiration of my customers is
hard work.”
coneRgy
Well, those are critical requirements to any successfully run business, but
they’re not a marketing strategy. Here are six ideas that can help you activate
word-of-mouth marketing and take your business to the next level.
Think outside your website. Have you ever seen that bumper sticker that
reads, “What if they started a war and nobody came?” Well, it’s the same thing
with websites. As the web evolves, the value of your website depends more
