Feasibility Study and Conceptual Design of a Reference Laboratory for Photovoltaic Cells and Modules

Depletion of fossil fuels and their inappropriate influence on climate change have lead to rapid substitution of them with clean and renewable resources throughout the world. Iran، due to suitable geographical location and high solar irradiation potential، has an ideal opportunity to grow its solar industry، particularly photovoltaic systems. PV cells and modules are the most important and costly parts of PV systems which must be supplied through foreign and/or domestic manufacturers. Quality assurance of these products is essential to reach high efficiency and lifetime of PV systems. A reference laboratory، as a responsible entity to obtain this goal، facilitates quality testing of equipments and quality assurance of production lines، as well as contributing to the research and development. This paper، according to these tasks، focuses on feasibility study and conceptual design of establishing a photovoltaic cell and module reference laboratory. This research includes listing of standard tests procedures and equipments، assessment of domestic potential for PV tests، determining methods for procuring equipments، suggesting organizational structure، estimating assessment of laboratory space، and finally، assessment of time and cost of establishing a PV reference laboratory