Workshop on Harmonized Technical Guidelines for PV

Systems in Pacific Islands

Importance and benefits of adopting

harmonized technical guidelines in the region
for PV systems
Fiji August 27 29, 2013

Sustainable Energy Association of

the Pacific Islands (SEIAPI)
Launched in November 2010.
The association aims to foster sustainable energy (renewable

energy and energy efficiency) use in the Pacific Region.

The association open to all countries &territories within the Pacific islands
Access to information, technologies advancements and capacity building
Develop and promote professional standards and guidelines
Promote the development of a qualified and well trained workforce in the
EE and RE industry throughout the Pacific islands and Territories

60+ members and growing Pacific Islands, Europe, S-America, Australia,

NZ, US...
LinkedIn discussion forum: around 200 members

Opening Remarks
Why technical guidelines and
standards?
Safety
Sustainability PV panels last for over 25 year
Optimal power output minimal losses
...

Leading to overall Client satisfaction and a healthy

industry
Leading towards technically sound installations
Leading towards sustainability

During the last years, there has been a rapid and steady
growth in renewable energy technologies deployment,
specially in the Pacific Islands
Standardisation and technical guidelines have been
supporting the penetration of renewables
Some of the benefits:
reduction of transaction costs through simplified contractual
agreements and use of standardised components
common language and understanding of what the product
or service is, and
an increased level of quality and safety for consumers.

These factors together result in higher consumer

confidence in and acceptance of renewable energy
technologies and reduced liability for manufacturers and
service providers.

Pictures of PV installations
Self Explanatory

One island installation

had a small rural hospital
with a nice solar water
purification installation
Installed by technicians as
part of a grant
They used Cuban panels
(Numen) and put them on
nicely elevated poles to
make it more difficult to
steal them
So far so good..

However, have a close look at the

photos...
The 2 arrays are overlapping and causing serious permanent
shading! Quite amazing they left it like this.
. Even after the commissioning!

To make it even worse, they were pointing North.

The installers came from a country in the Southern
hemisphere, so these guys are used to pointing their
panels North.
The island they installed this system on is located north of
the equator though... :-)

Would that happen if the technicians had clear technical

guidelines?
Would it be corrected if the donor organization had
included clear technical guidelines in the tender, and
used them during the commissioning?

Some more pictures

Please note:

Technologies that fail due to

or
create a negative
association in the minds of consumers and
.
This is the opening sentence on the chapter on Standards, in the recently
published United Nations Foundation, Energy Access Practitioner Network
report Towards Achieving Universal Energy Access by 2030.