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Govt to set up solar equipment testing lab

Suman Saha
The government is set to establish the country's first dedicated solar equipment testing laboratory by June in a bid to ensure superior quality renewable energy related products.
Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL), a state-owned non-bank financial institution that promotes green technology, has already awarded the lab installation job to Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
"The programme for installing solar home systems is gradually expanding in the country," said Mahmood Malik, chief executive officer of IDCOL.
"We are going to set up the testing lab as it will heighten performance of the solar home systems and ensure consumer satisfaction at the household level," he said.
The laboratory will randomly and continuously test and monitor the products to improve their quality, said Malik, also the executive director of the company.
IDCOL will also sign a memorandum of understanding with Buet within a month to ensure smooth operation of the lab.
Buet has allocated 4,000 square feet ofspace to set up the lab on the electrical and electronic engineering department premises, said Md Ziaur Rahman Khan, a professor at
the department.
The initial focus of the lab is to verify the performance of specific photovoltaic (PV) components such as verification of peak power ratings for PV modules and battery capacity, determination of charge controller set points and measurement of lamp output, he said.
The lab will also be used for research, said Khan, also the quality control manager of the proposed laboratory.
Initially, the company will use SO.5 million, provided by World Bank under the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development Project-2, to set up the lab, the IDCOL chief executive said.
I Inder the project, the company has already appointed a US consultant to monitor the laboratory work and it will procure equipment and other resources through international bidding, he said.
The goals of the testing centre are to obtain ISO 17025 laboratory accreditation for PV systems testing within five years, and to become a commercially-viable and internationally-recognised testing laboratory.
Currently, the imported PV solar components are approved based on independent test results provided by the manufacturers and suppliers, who have to depend on product testing and certification services from other countries, Malik said.FROMPAGEBl
Such a situation adds to the cost, creates uncertainty in performance and quality of the products, and reduces global competitiveness for the domestic industry, he said.
On average, around 70,000 families are now installing solar home systems each month to meet their daily electricity requirements. Till September, IDCOL has installed 2.57 million units.
In September alone, some 88,945 units were installed, up 20.55 percent from August, according to IDCOL's statistics.
suman.saha@thedailystar.net