Quality Standards for Off-Grid Solar

In off-grid solar the buyer usually cannot test the product before purchase and the end user certainly cannot. Third-party standards exist to fill that gap, and knowing what each one covers stops a certificate being used to prove something it does not.

The Lighting Global Quality Standards

These set minimum requirements for off-grid lighting products across truth in advertising, durability, warranty terms and the performance of lights, batteries and charge control. A product that meets them is a product whose spec sheet can be believed. Three Sinoware products meet them: the Lamp2Torch, the SunAce II and the SunBase.

VeraSol

VeraSol is the quality assurance programme that grew out of Lighting Global and now covers off-grid solar products more broadly. Certification means the product has been through independent testing rather than a manufacturer declaration. The Sinoware SunAwada reading lamp is VeraSol certified, and the SunAce-Li has been VeraSol tested.

For programme and tender buyers this often matters more than any other line on a spec sheet, because subsidy and results-based finance schemes frequently require it before a product qualifies.

OpenPAYGO

OpenPAYGO is an open standard for pay as you go tokens. Certification proves the hardware implements the standard correctly, which protects an operator from being locked into a single vendor's private token scheme. Sinoware PAYG hardware is OpenPAYGO certified and supplied on the PaygOps platform.

CE and RoHS

CE is a declaration of conformity for the European market. RoHS restricts hazardous substances. Both are necessary and neither is a performance test. A product can carry both and still be a poor lantern. Treat them as entry requirements, not as quality evidence.

National Laboratory Testing

Some national programmes require testing at their own laboratory, and no international mark substitutes for it. When Sinoware developed a lamp for the Indonesian PLN SEHEN requirement, the product went through the Indonesia laboratory test before a single unit shipped. If your programme names a laboratory, plan the schedule around that test.

Reading a Supplier's Certification Claims

• Certification attaches to a model, not to a company. Ask which model.
• Ask for the certificate number and the issue date.
• A supplier who lists every standard in existence against every product is listing aspirations.
• Standards a supplier states it can meet are not the same as certificates it holds. Both are useful, but they are different claims.

Sinoware products are also stated to meet ISO, SGS, BV, COC, PVOC, SONCAP, SASO, CIQ, CE and RoHS requirements. The certifications held on named products are listed above and on the factory page, and the files are supplied with the quotation.