Quality assurance remains a top priority as the global off-grid solar market continues to evolve and deliver energy services to more households and businesses. The Kenyan government has adopted KS IEC 62257-9-8 as a mandatory standard for pico-PV and SHS kits to protect consumers from low-quality products. The soon-to-be gazetted solar PV regulations will implement the quality standards through Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) programs.

On July 20 and 21, 2022, VeraSol held an off-grid quality assurance training session for representatives from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) quality assurance team and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). The training aimed to prepare the KEBS and EPRA teams, who will have a crucial role in enforcing KS IEC TS 62257-9-8 through the regulations, to understand the requirements of the standards to enable them during the product registration phase of compliance.

Topics covered during the session included:

• History of Quality Assurance for Off-grid Solar Products
• Introduction to the Quality Standards for Pico-PV and Solar Home System Kits (KS IEC TS 62257-9-8:2020)
• Structure of the Test Methods for Pico-PV and Solar Home System kits – IEC 62257-9-5
• Valid evidence for assessing conformity with KS IEC 62257-9-8 – Indicators of the validity of a lab test report

The training was well received, with the participants identifying more avenues for collaboration between KEBS and EPRA on PVoC and between EPRA and UON-LL for market tests once the regulation comes into place.

Learn more about VeraSol’s technical assistance services and how we leverage international harmonisation of the off-grid solar quality standards to boost the effectiveness of national conformity assessment programs.