Advances needed in standardisation of PV components and systems

The objectives of standardisation, the needs of manufacturers and end-users and the state of the art are presented, as well as the international organisations involved (IEC, PV GAP), the existing standards and ongoing initiatives. Standardisation should be seen as a first priority to support the growing development of all types of PV systems. Significant progress on PV standardisation has been made in the last few years, but much remains to be done. The main requirements and suggestions for the future are: 1) research is still required for lifetime expectancy and performance measurement, especially over a limited time period; 2) new criteria for characterisation of some components and systems have to be studied in order to simplify the test procedures and reduce the cost; 3) outdoor testing should be studied and proposed when relevant, as a complementary approach to indoor testing, especially for developing countries; 4) a global approach often necessary to provide simple answers to the end-users.