Mar 5 2008
Spire Corporation, a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide, today announced that it has received a purchase order for its advanced Single Long Pulse Solar Simulator from the United States Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) located in Golden, Colorado.
NREL is one of several laboratories worldwide that is currently accredited to perform current-voltage (I-V) measurements of photovoltaic modules and issue International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certificates. With the advancement in the size of the modules being developed and manufactured today, NREL requires an advanced pulsed simulator that will handle these larger units.
The simulator that Spire will be delivering to NREL is its newest model, the SPI-SUN SIMULATOR™ 4600SLP. Able to accommodate modules up to 200 centimeters by 137 centimeters, this simulator meets the highest Class A spectrum and spatial uniformity requirements of ASTM International (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
“It is an honor to have your equipment selected by the laboratory that sets the standard for the industry,” said Roger G. Little, Spire’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Our Sun Simulator is recognized in the forefront of the solar module field and we are committed to its consistent improvement and evolution.”
To assure that the illumination from Spire’s solar simulators meets the rigorous spectral standards set by ASTM International and IEC, stable, accurate, and reliable measurement instrumentation is required. NREL, a world leader in developing and utilizing test instrumentation for the photovoltaic industry, has developed the Pulse Analysis Spectroradiometer System (PASS) for this purpose. Spire recently took delivery of the only PASS unit outside of NREL to confirm and validate accuracy of Spire’s existing testing instruments. Utilization of this sophisticated device and software will help assure that Spire’s simulators continue to meet the high quality specifications for spectral accuracy demanded by the photovoltaic industry.
Steve Hogan, Executive Vice President and General Manger of Spire Solar said, “We are happy to receive this order from NREL. We pride ourselves in the quality of our simulators and have invested a great deal to achieve the proper spectrum and uniformity of these machines. We have more than 200 simulators in the field for both crystalline and thin film modules. Our customers count on them for an accurate measurement of their modules’ performance.”