Quality Control and Testing for Balance of System Components

Reduce risk and protect your investments in clean energy

The clean energy industry expects that a well-designed solar and storage asset, produced with the right materials and processes, and installed in a well-integrated system, will perform well even beyond its stated lifetime. However, non-standardized production methods and quality, combined with rapid changes in production line design with rapid changes in technology, quality issues that impact the overall lifetime of solar assets are a regular occurrence amongst even the most mature suppliers and factories.

Quality issues and defects can occur at any time during design, manufacturing, shipping, installation, or operation. Intertek CEA provides a complete quality assurance solution that covers the entire product lifecycle and the Balance of System (BOS) components.

Intertek CEA’s international team of quality control engineers offers an unparalleled quality assurance presence that:

• Reduce technical and financial risk and optimize the financial return of projects

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

Pre-production quality control, verification, and review

Intertek CEA’s technology, quality, and supply chain teams are dedicated to ensuring the highest quality before production has even begun:

• Pre-Contractual Technical Requirement and Quality Action Plan Review

  All technical, quality, and inspection requirements are agreed upon with suppliers before signing the contract: standards, reliability tests, characterization, supplier’s QAP, inspection pass/fail parameters, etc.

• Factory, Workshop, and Production Line Audits

  A team of engineers audits a factory location, including the workshops and lines specific to your order, using a 1,000+ point checklist. Every finding is recorded and classified according to risk and severity.

• Factory Acceptance Testing and Design Review

  Factory acceptance tests (FATs) designed to ensure complex systems meet functional and performance requirements. Validation of critical parameters and testing standards and verification of safety systems.

• Bill of Materials (BOM) Compliance Verification

  Confirmation and verification that raw materials and components used during production are in accordance with the BOM and match those in the CDF (Constructional Data Form), to confirm the IEC or UL certification of the product is accurate and valid.

During and After Production

• Inline Production Monitoring (IPM)

  Intertek CEA offers flexible process monitoring that can run continuously (24/7, by special requrest) or at a frequency that fits your needs and budget. Monitoring covers every production station at a factory during an order, using a checklist of more than 280 inspection points. All findings are documented and rated based on their potential risk.

• Post-Production Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI)

  Visual, EL, and IV inspections are performed on a statistically significant, randomly selected sample of finished products, along with capacity and voltage checks for energy storage, in accordance with a list of vetted quality criteria. All findings are recorded and classified according to risk and severity. For energy storage products, additional inspection items may also be included at different levels:

  • Cell level: appearance, OCV/IR, dimensions, self-discharge, capacity

  • Module level: appearance, OCV/IR, capacity, isolation resistance test

  • Rack level: appearance, OCV/IR, capacity, isolation resistance test, BMU I/O test, water spray

• Container Loading Monitoring (CLM)

  Confirmation that boxes and pallets of products loaded into shipping containers come exclusively from inspected and approved lots. Confirmation that packaging and loading meets required specifications.

• Batch Testing (PID, LID, LeTID, etc)

  Randomly selected samples from a production batch are tested in the factory or a third-party lab; results verify performance and support claims in case of non-compliance.