Product listing terms and conditions

The intent of this clause is to account for maximum power rating uncertainty, also commonly referred to as production or measurement tolerance. This value is declared by the manufacturer to account for uncertainty and variance in the manufacturing process, including inaccuracies in measurement equipment during factory testing. 

In the testing and certification documents for the IEC 61215 series of standards provided for an  application to the approved products list, this uncertainty would be declared as t1 (and t4, if applicable) for Clauses 7.2.1 and 7.2.2 of IEC 61215-1:2021. The Clean Energy Council expects this value to be defined in % relative to the maximum power rating of each power class. Note that the maximum tolerance of +/-5% in Clause 28 applies to crystalline (silicon) PV modules, which is the majority of PV modules on the Clean Energy Council’s approved product list, but may not be applicable to amorphous or other thin-film PV technologies.   

A common misconception of this clause is to consider this uncertainty as a sorting criteria for module power classes.  

The modules must only be sorted and labelled with a Pmax rating based on the measured Pmax value being within the binning range of that power class. The uncertainty only serves to indicate variance during the manufacturing process and factory measurements.  

Binning is an internal-criteria applied at production to sort any given PV module into a particular power class, and is a criteria chosen and declared by the manufacturer. By specifying a positive binning range (e.g. 0~+5W), a manufacturer can provide their customers with additional assurance that any given PV module will meet or exceed its rated power. Binning is typically defined in watts (W), but can also be defined in % (relative to the maximum power rating stated on the label). The Clean Energy Council expects the factory flash test results to be within the declared binning range for each power class. 

Clause 29 specifies the lower bound of the binning range for a module’s maximum power rating, at standard test conditions (STC), to be no more than -5W (e.g. -3W is accepted, but -10W is not). If the binning range is displayed in %, then this requirement would apply to the calculated Watt value. Other commonly used names for binning tolerance include power sorting and binning range. 

The following example demonstrates how clauses 28 and 29 of the PV Module listing T&Cs are applied by the Clean Energy Council: 

PV module label states a maximum power rating of 440W, with binning range of +/-5W and uncertainty of +/-3%. 

The flash test results at the factory would be required to demonstrate the measured maximum power rating values to be within the binning range of +/-5W, (435W to 445W), and not +/- 3% (426.8W to 453.2W). Note, as part of the Clean Energy Council’s Testing and Compliance Program, we may request these flash test results (see clause 56 of PV Module T&Cs). Under this example, a module with a measured 434W maximum power rating at production stage cannot be labelled as a 440W module, as it is outside of the binning range for that power class.  

The Clean Energy Council would require the qualification testing and certification documents to demonstrate the uncertainty value declared by the manufacturer is +/-3% (for this example), with a pass result for relevant clauses that reference this value.

The Clean Energy Council requires that for all approved PV modules, labels and datasheets must display the binning range and uncertainty (if declared by the manufacturer). The value of these parameters must be consistent across data sheets and labels, as per clause 24 of the PV Module T&Cs.