Enertis launches its new mobile laboratory for the analysis of photovoltaic plants in Chile
Enertis, global consulting and engineering firm and a leader in the international renewable energies sector has launched its first PV Mobile Lab in Chile.The launch of the new PV Mobile Lab in Chile contributes extensively to the international expansion plan of the company and to the consolidation of Enertis in this market since it opened its local office back in 2012. Chile is the largest market in South America, with more than 1,200 MW of installed power and tender plans within 3 years for the supply for over 19,000GWh.
PVMobile Lab novelties
The PV Mobile Lab is designed to carry out on-the-ground quality controls of photovoltaic plants, avoiding modules’ transportation and reducing significantly the downtime periods when panels are uninstalled for inspections. Additionally, the new mobile unit is equipped with a solar A+A+A+ simulator flash according to internationally recognized standards. Thanks to its new software, the simulator provides highly capacitive measurement methods specially adapted to non-conventional modules, such as those based on thin films (a-Si, CIGS, CdTe) and silicon heterojunction technology. This, combined with a special temperature preconditioning chamber, allows to obtain maximum power measurements under standard conditions, according to international standards, with very low uncertainty, and consequently, the maximum reliability.
Moreover, the PV Mobile Lab is equipped with three other techniques for characterization of photovoltaic modules, such as the one designed for the measurement of electric insulation resistance, or the increasingly necessary electroluminescent and thermographic analysis. These analyses, of a non-invasive and qualitative nature, make it possible to reveal and evaluate the presence of numerous internal defects in the modules’ cells, a critical matter for an accurate and reliable performance.
According to Santos García, Managing Director of Enertis Group:
“The launch of PV Mobile Lab in Chile will allow our customers to use quality assurance services at utility-scale and distributed generation projects at any phase. It provides a high addedvalue in processes like the acceptance of batches of thousands of modules during its reception at their final destination, product’s validation during commissioning of the assets, or verification and control of the degradation guaranteed by manufacturers along the panels’ service life. All of it in a logistically complex environment, since plants are located in desert areas with long commuting distances. The PV Mobile Lab will thus generate time and costs savings for our customers, increasing their ability to guarantee quality assurance in their ongoing projects while providing new tools to analyze the operation and performance of plants in operational phases”.
