The Australian Solar Council (ASC) formed the voluntary industry program earlier this year called ‘Positive Quality.’ The program tests the manufacturing process of solar panels to provide consumer and industry confidence and quality assurance.

Yingli Solar has been the first to undertake the program passing the rigorous testing. Independent testing and inspection is carried out through the manufacturing process before solar panels are sent to Australia in order to ascertain quality. It is impossible to tell or compare the quality of solar panels just by looking at the completed module – the ‘Positive Quality’ testing system goes straight to the heart and monitors each process in the manufacturing system.

“As manufacturers compete on price there is an inevitable pressure to substitute quality components with cheaper ones” said Solar Council Chief Executive John Grimes. “The outcome is that while all solar panels look the same they do not perform the same, and that difference in performance could cost a customer tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the system”.

Mr Grimes says the inspections are ‘intensive’ and occur at random once each quarter in order to keep the ‘Positive Quality’ trademark on their brand.

“We were impressed by the high level of manufacturing excellence demonstrated by Yingli Solar.  We were also able to provide positive feedback to Yingli Solar that will help them in their continuous improvement program”.