First China-authored Standards Approved for Publication

Formed in late 2011, the China PV Standards Committee has developed its first three SEMI Standards.  The new Standards, which recently completed successful procedural review, are a landmark achievement for China and the SEMI Standards Program, and are the result of intense global collaboration over the last year.

The new Standards are:

SEMI-PV??-0512: New Standard: Specification for Anti-Reflective Coated Glass, Used in Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Modules

SEMI PV??-0512New Standard: Specification for Package Protection Technology for PV Modules

SEMI PV??-0512New Standard: Test Method for the Content of Vinyl Acetate (VA) in Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) Applied in PV Modules Using Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA)

As with all SEMI Standards, ballots were distributed to the entire global membership of the PV Standards Committee. All rejects and comments were considered by the committee as ballots were refined over multiple cycles, ensuring that international consensus was reached before any standards were approved for publication

The China Committee now has eight active Task Forces and 10 SNARFs (standard proposals under development). Participation from China industry is strong, with major players such as Astroenergy, Canadian Solar, GCL, LDK, Suntech, TianWei, Trina, and Yingli among the 75+members that attend each committee meeting.

Figure 1 - China PV Standards Organization Chart)As Committee Chair Dr. Guangchun Zhang, COO, Canadian Solar, states, “SEMI has a strong reputation in China for successful standardization, which is why the China PV industry has selected the global SEMI Standards platform to develop consensus on materials, equipment, and other manufacturing areas where standards are needed to improve efficiency and reduce cost. These initial standards are an important achievement, and the committee is eager to develop many high-quality SEMI PV standards for the global PV industry.”

The China Committee’s standardization priorities are on specifications and test methods for key materials used in PV silicon, wafers, cells and modules and specifications and test methods for key performance/quality/reliability indicators of PV cells, modules and systems. These activities are increasingly in collaboration with counterparts from other regions.

Figure 2 - Global PV Standards Organization Chart)

Since 2007, nearly 600 PV industry experts in 22 task forces have developed and published 43 SEMI PV standards covering equipment, materials, and test methods used in crystalline cell, module and thin film manufacturing.  This has been a truly global effort, and standards development has been led in each region.