The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has extended the deadline for the Bureau of Indian Standards certification of solar inverters.

Considering that the series guidelines for inverters are in the process being finalized for approval, the self-certification deadline for inverters of those manufacturers who have valid quality test reports has been extended from June 30, 2019, to September 30, 2019.

As reported previously by Mercom, the ministry had earlier extended the deadline for the BIS certification of solar inverters by six months to June 30, 2019.

Previously, Mercom reported about the struggles of inverter manufacturers in gaining clarity on the ambiguous BIS certification process. The unavailability of labs, lack of testing facilities and workforce, unreasonable costs of testing, absence of series guidelines, and confusion regarding MNRE notifications were some of the issues that have made the compliance of the order “Solar Photovoltaics Systems, Devices and Component Goods Order 2017” extremely difficult.

Earlier, realizing the need of quality products to be used in solar projects, the government had mandated that the tests must be conducted by labs for compulsory registration with the BIS for the implementation of the quality order.

Since the notification was released on September 5, 2017, the deadline has been extended several times as the industry has been seeking more and more time for the compliance of the order due to lack of lab facilities.

Recently, the ministry issued draft guidelines for series approval (grouping) of solar PV inverters to conduct testing in labs for Implementation of “Quality Control Order on Solar PV Systems, Devices and Components Goods 2017.”

As the inverters are of varying sizes, ratings and type the inverters in each category are to be grouped for submitting samples to test labs, and they would be granted series approval for products based on testing of representatives’ models.

Mercom’s India Solar Market Leaderboard 2019 report lists out the market leaders in the Indian the solar industry. According to the report, central inverters accounted for approximately 70% of total shipments and ABB emerged as the top central inverter supplier for 2018, while Huawei was the top string inverter supplier.

Image credit: Goodwe