PV Quality, Safety, and Standards

Leandro Michels is an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), where he conducts research at the Institute of Energy and Mobility (IEM) and the Power Electronics and Control Group (GEPOC) in the areas of photovoltaic (PV) systems and power electronics. Throughout his career, he has actively contributed to the advancement of photovoltaic energy in Brazil by providing technical expertise on inverter technology and distributed generation (DG) grid connection to regulatory agencies, industry associations, and the productive sector. He is also involved in standardization efforts, serving as the coordinator of the Brazilian committee for the IEC Technical Committee on PV Systems and as a rapporteur for the ABNT CEE 253 committee, which develops Brazilian standards for grid connection of PV systems. He coordinates the DER Lab, the distributed energy resources laboratory at IEM/UFSM, which is accredited by INMETRO for testing photovoltaic inverters.

Electrical Engineer responsible for the sector of grid-tied photovoltaic inverters and rectifier systems at PHB Solar. He is a member of the ABNT/CEE-253 Photovoltaic Systems Study Commission and sub-rapporteur of Working Group GT2, responsible for drafting the standard project 'Inspection criteria for electroluminescence in photovoltaic modules.' He contributed to the development of INMETRO Ordinance 140 03/2022, which defines quality requirements for products such as photovoltaic modules, off-grid inverters, grid-tied inverters with batteries, charge controllers, etc. He participated in the INMETRO certification of the first grid-connected photovoltaic inverter in Brazil (Registration -000150/2015).

- Ana Carolina Cunha Quélhas is a Mechanical Engineer with a Master's degree in Structural Engineering from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA). She works in the design of metallic structures, focusing on the safe installation of photovoltaic panels. She has published articles on this topic in Fotovolt magazine. Additionally, she serves as Executive Director at Mi Omega Engenharia and the Mi Omega Institute.

Dr. Ricardo Bortolini is RDI Project Manager at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) unit of the Brazilian Company of Research and Industrial Innovation (EMBRAPII). He is also a Technical Advisor of the PV testing and certification laboratory (DERLab) at the Institute of Energy and Mobility (IEM) from UFSM. He is one of the founders of the PV laboratory where he worked as Technical Manager for 6 years, being responsible for interaction with standardization bodies like ABNT, IEC and Inmetro helping to develop the Brazilian standardization and certification infrastructure. Actually, he is responsible for the proposal and management of RDI projects related with renewable energies, especially PV projects and a technical advisor at the laboratory and for companies, helping them with PV related standards and to improve their own testing and certification infrastructures.

Career built in the conformity assessment and management segment, with 25 years of experience in regulations and standards, including certification operations, working for companies such as Fundação Carlos Alberto Vanzolini and Instituto Falcão Bauer da Qualidade, in addition to 8 years as technical manager of the Association Brazilian Conformity Assessment - ABRAC. At ABSOLAR, he coordinates the operationalization actions of the ABSOLAR Voluntary Quality Certification Program and support for CEE 253, from ABNT and its working groups.