ersol modules, produced with Oerlikon Solar equipment, now certified
San Francisco, INTERSOLAR N.A., 14 July 2008. - TÜV Rhineland today announced that ersol´s amorphous thin film module Nova®-T, produced with fabrication equipment from Oerlikon Solar, passed all tests required for IEC 61646 certification. This Module Performance Test required TÜV to put modules through several months of extensive examinations. This included accelerated lifetime tests for heat, freezing, thermal cycles, humidity and UV exposure. Mechanical impact tests were also conducted. All passed successfully. "With these certificates we can offer our end-to-end fabrication line customers an important advantage. We can reduce their time to market for certified modules by up to 8 months. They can now provide certified modules in less than 6 weeks after start of production while guaranteeing a stable and reliable production process", says Jeannine Sargent, CEO of Oerlikon Solar.
Significant customer advantages - world wide
The customer value is immediate and significant. In addition to reducing time to market, the TÜV certification provides a high level of assurance that modules produced on Oerlikon Solar equipment will be robustly manufactured. TÜV certified modules are able to command a considerably higher price and are in many European countries, currently the largest market for thin film PV modules, obligatory in order to receive renewable incentives. It also adds to the confidence that extended endurance and product safety will be up to the latest standards. The certification is valid world-wide and it is just one part of the scalable and most reliable platform from which Oerlikon Solar's is rapidly scaling its production and services.
True Partnership
Over the past several months Oerlikon Solar and ersol Thin Film have been working closely together with TÜV officials to achieve the certifications. Sargent: "Thanks to the excellent teamwork with ersol Thin Film (Germany) we were able to get the TÜV certification on modules directly from a mass production environment." This guarantees Oerlikon Solar end-to-end customers the highest standards available on the market. "We are proud having received the certification from TÜV Rhineland. The IEC certificate helps our customers to successfully market thin film PV technology and demonstrates the excellent reliability and long term performance of our product", says Dr. Christian Koitzsch, CTO of ersol Thin Film GmbH.
TÜV congratulates
"We congratulate ersol and Oerlikon Solar for the successful passing of the certification process" states Willi Vaassen, Head of Renewable Energy division, TÜV Rheinland. Already the market leader in installed thin film silicon PV applications, this certification is another milestone in the accelerating growth of Oerlikon Solar.
