One of Asia’s leading clean energy specialists, Solarvest, uses the latest electrical safety test equipment to ensure the solar photovoltaic (PV) installations it services and maintains operate at peak performance levels.
Solarvest is committed to the vision of creating a world generated by renewable energy. Founded in 2012, the company provides a range of solar PV engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services for several large-scale solar, residential, commercial, and industrial projects in Malaysia. Through its dedicated operations and maintenance subsidiary, PowerTrack, the company actively maintains and monitors over 90 national projects.
The ongoing work it undertakes for customers involves the pre-commissioning checking and testing of PV installations. This involves measuring the relationship between module current and voltage with the simultaneous display of irradiance value, while analysing the current vs voltage (I-V) curve. Insulation tests, without disconnecting the PV module, are also undertaken.
To ensure this is carried out quickly, accurately, and to the highest technical standards at dozens of installations across Malaysia, Solarvest’s regional teams in Selangor, Penang and Johor rely on portable multi-function PV200 solar PV testers from Seaward. These are used to interrogate the health of individual modules using I-V curve analysis, perform string cable insulation tests, and measure short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage, and during pre-commissioning tests. In this way, the accurate visual comparison of curve shapes can be used to immediately identify common problems such as shading, defective cells, or poor electrical connections, helping to rectify any issues quickly.
Using simple pushbutton operation, the PV200 also carries out all the electrical tests required by IEC 62446, including maximum power point voltage, current and power, and insulation resistance. Solarvest has used the tester frequently on PV string voltage design for its industrial and large-scale solar projects below 1000 V in Malaysia to perform PV module output measurements. Muhammad Mahadzir Bin Abdul Halim, operations and maintenance engineer at Solarvest, said the PV200 is a highly efficient tester that allows engineers to complete checks regardless of the location of modules.
He added, “We strive to provide our clients with the highest quality and value-added turnkey solar energy solutions. The tester is an essential part of our onsite tool kit to enhance the efficiency of our service. The multifunction PV200 unit eliminates the need for engineers to carry separate meters for different tasks. The ability to take one combined measurement, instead of many separate ones, greatly improves operator efficiency and accuracy, helping to identify possible faults from the modules and getting them verified and replaced quickly and safely − which is the key requirement of our maintenance work.”
The combination of advanced remote monitoring capabilities with the latest in on-site solar PV test instrumentation enables Solarvest to ensure that the expanding infrastructure of PV installations that it is responsible for maintaining continues to perform at maximum performance levels. This forms part of a comprehensive range of Seaward solar PV testing equipment.
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