The Munich-based Solarschmiede GmbH presents its Warranty Check at the Intersolar Europe for the first time

The new service of Solarschmiede GmbH covers assembly and product defects as well as reduced output of a solar power plant during the entire warranty period. The warranty check includes the final plant inspection on location and the laboratory investigaion of individual modules. The result will enable plant operators to enforce claims
upon manufacturers and installers before the warranty service period expires. Until now, final plant inspections have only been conducted directly after the commissioning.

“Trust is good, but control better! The experience we have gained from our final plant inspections in 2010, having a total power output of over 100 megawatts, show us that plant owners, operators and investors should have independent third party examine the quality of their solar power plants without fail”, explains Rudolf Haas, leader of the PV system engineering of Solarschmiede and adds, “according to our check, plant operators can rest
assured that their solar plant runs reliably and profitably and that the returns are secure”. Solarschmiede offers this new service to plant operators in all of Europe.

Customers who take advantage of the warranty check receive the entire services from a single source with very short processing times. In cooperation with the Munich University of Applied Sciences, Solarschmiede has acquired and incorporated the latest scientific insights.

Quick and efficient error search by the plant acceptance and module audit

During the final plant inspection, the engineers check the photovoltaic plant optically and metrologically on location. In addition to making a visual test of the installation as well as of the components used, the experts do a large scale thermography measurement. High resolution infrared images reveal damages to inverters or modules, which cannot be detected by any other measurement procedure. This way, for example, hotspots can be localised, which would lead to yield losses if otherwise not discovered.

In addition, the Solarschmiede employees measure the characteristic curves of the modules. Through this, defects in the switches, defective modules or improper deviations in the output of the individual strings can be identified.

If power losses are detected during the tests, Solarschmiede conducts laboratory tests subsequently such as flash tests and electroluminescence measurements for defect analysis.