Quality Roundtable @ Solar Power International 2019

2:00 pm - 4:30 pm, September 25, 2019
Meeting Room 155C, Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City

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REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED. Join us directly at room 155 C, half an hour prior to the event.

Join pv magazine for the latest edition of our Quality Roundtable in Salt Lake City, alongside the 2019 edition of Solar Power International.

Failures, fiascos and fires: How to avoid trouble from manufacturing, through design, to installation

Moderated by U.S. Editor Christian Roselund, this year’s Quality Roundtable at SPI will look at the avoidable points of failure that result in either catastrophic failures like fires or simply reduced output of solar projects, from manufacturing through design and installation.

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Speakers

Dean Solon, CEO and Founder, Shoals Technologies

As the CEO and Founder of Shoals Technologies Group, Dean Solon is responsible for running all facets of the business. Dean has a proven executive management track record and over 20 years of experience driving sales and technological growth in the solar industry. Dean founded Shoals in 1996 with partners, and in the year 2000 bought all their shares in the business, changing the course of Shoals from manufacturing for the automotive industry to the solar industry. While solar was in its infancy, Dean saw an opportunity to bring his extensive automotive knowledge and experience to a fledgling industry. Prior to the founding of Shoals, Dean worked in technical sales at multiple automotive tier one and tier two companies.

Kaushik Roy Choudhury, PhD, Principal Investigator, DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials

Kaushik Roy Choudhury is a Senior Scientist and a Project Leader at DuPont. He has a PhD in materials physics and over 15 years of experience in photovoltaic and optoelectronic materials. He currently leads DuPont’s global PV field reliability program working on reliability and durability of PV packaging materials, degradation of polymeric materials in field-deployed PV modules, and PV system economics. At DuPont he has previously led programs on metallization pastes for silicon photovoltaics, novel inorganic and hybrid thin-film solar absorbers, and light emitting and plasmonic nanomaterials.

Kent Whitfield, VP for Quality, NEXTracker

Kent Whitfield has been involved in a range of PV activities from testing, analysis and certification through product manufacturing, system design and deployment for the past 29 years. As VP for Quality at NEXTracker, he oversees global quality and durability. His previous roles include: R&D manager and principal engineer and for renewable energy technologies at Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and several senior director roles in Engineering, Reliability, and Quality for Beamreach, SunEdison, Solaria and MiaSole. He has created two ISO/IEC accredited testing and certification laboratories and represents the USA for IEC standard development for PV products.

Jan Mastny, Head of Global Sales, Solar & Wind, LEONI

Jan Mastny heads the global sales assist in solar and wind for Leoni Studer. Jan has been active in the PV industry since 2005, and has worked with leading PV component manufacturers – previously with Onamba Japan and since 2015 with Leoni. He is currently responsible for global sales and market development, and has worked on a range of new projects, in R&D and product management. Jan is involved with a. number of international working groups and task forces. He is a passionate advocate for renewable energy and believes that clean energy is the key to keeping the earth beautiful for future generations.

Tara Doyle, Chief Commercial Officer, PVEL

Tara Doyle is Chief Commercial Officer of PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), the leading independent lab for downstream solar project developers and financial institutions. She has over 15 years of solar industry experience and built the foundation of PVEL’s commercial operations as one of its longest-standing employees. Tara currently leads PVEL’s business development, project management and marketing teams. She began her career at SunPower where she managed corporate operations and client engagement programs.

Hongbin Fang, Director of Product and Technology, LONGi Solar

Hongbin Fang is Director of Product and Technology at LONGi Solar, a leading dedicated monocrystalline solar cell and module manufacturer. At LONGi Solar, his team is in charge of product marketing and technical support for North America and LATAM. Before joining LONGi in 2016, Hongbin was working at SunEdison for 5 years, where he has led the effort on solar wafer, cell and module integration, new technology and new supplier introduction into HVM manufacturing.

Paul Wormser, Vice President, Operations, CEA

Based in San Marcos, CA, Mr. Wormser is responsible for the execution teams at CEA. He manages workstreams to drive improvements which includes implementing CEA’s reporting procedures, soliciting client feedback and developing CEA’s entire suite of service offerings. Mr. Wormser has over 40 years of solar industry experience including engineering, sales, marketing, product development, strategic planning, and senior management.

Tristan Erion-Lorico, Head of PV Module Business, PV Evolution Labs (PVEL)

Tristan Erion-Lorico brings nearly 15 years of solar and electrical industry experience to PV Evolution Labs (PVEL). As Head of PV Module Business, he collaborates with PV module buyers, investors, research institutions and manufacturers to develop innovative performance and reliability test programs for product qualification. Tristan previously served as Product and Quality Manager for Silfab Solar, where he oversaw Silfab’s extended reliability testing and was responsible for new product development and new material qualification. He has also directed equipment procurement and technical site operations for solar project developers and Independent Power Producers at a range of projects across North America, South America and Asia.

Brian Mills, Product Manager Alternative Energy - North America, Stäubli Electrical Connectors

Brian has been with Staubli Electrical Connectors (previously Multi-Contact) for 15 years. He held the position of Senior Design Engineer for Renewable Energy, in charge of the design team for new PV market products in North America before taking on his current role of Product Manager of the Alternative Energy portfolio in North America. Brian’s responsibilities also include product compliance with UL, CSA and TUV for all North American product offerings and sits on several standards technical panels (STPs) for relevant UL standards such as UL1703 and UL6703. He also routinely participates in industry expert-led endeavors such as PVQAT and has been a perennial participant in the PV Magazine Quality Roundtable discussions for the past 4 years.

Kim Primerano – Director of Solar O&M, Longroad Energy

Kim leads the solar O&M team for Longroad Energy, a renewable wind and solar energy developer based in Boston, MA. Ms. Primerano has 8 years of experience in the renewable energy industry. Prior to joining Longroad Energy, she was the Managing Director an ISP in the wind industry, prior to renewable energy she was a Captain in the US Marine Corps. As the Director of Solar O&M for Longroad Energy she manages over 400MW of DG solar and aids in the project development of new DG & utility scale solar. In addition to developing, financing, and constructing renewable energy projects, Longroad provides operations and asset management services to 1,236MW wind and solar projects across the US.

Failures, fiascos and fires: How to avoid trouble from manufacturing, through design, to installation

Moderated by U.S. Editor Christian Roselund, this year’s Quality Roundtable, September 25 at SPI will look at the avoidable points of failure that result in either catastrophic failures like fires or simply reduced output of solar projects, from manufacturing through design and installation.

Key takeaways from attending the Quality Roundtable USA

Discuss real anonymized quality cases in large scale solar plants with your peers and industry experts
Learn about the upstream practices that drive module quality and field performance
Understand the reasons for fires in solar plants and how to avoid them with component selection and installation best practices

Who should attend:

EPCs
Asset owners
Financiers
Installers
Developers
Engineers

Agenda

2:00- 2:05 PM

Welcome and introductions

Moderator: Christian Roselund, U.S. Editor, pv magazine

2:05 – 2:15 PM

Opening presentation from Initiative Partner DuPont

Kaushik Roy Choudhury, Senior Scientist and Project Leader, DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials

2:15 – 2:45 PM

Presentation of quality cases with moderated audience discussion

Christian Roselund, U.S. Editor, pv magazine will present two quality cases from a variety of sources, with Tristan Erion-Lorico, Head of PV Module Business, PV Evolution Labs (PVEL)

2:45 – 3:25 PM

PANEL DISCUSSION: All about the BoM: The role of bill of materials in module quality and field performance

Kaushik Roy Choudhury, Senior Scientist and Project Leader, DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials •
Tara Doyle, Chief Commercial Officer, PVEL • Hongbin Fang, Director of Product and Technology, LONGi Solar • Paul Wormser, Vice President, Operations, CEA

3:25 – 3:40 PM

Presentation of quality cases with moderated audience discussion

Christian Roselund, U.S. Editor, pv magazine will present one quality case

3:40 – 3:50 PM

DISCUSSION Best practices to ensure maximum tracker uptime

Kent Whitfield, VP of Quality, NEXTracker

3:50 – 4:25 PM

PANEL DISCUSSION: Component selection and installation practices to avoid fires

Dean Solon, Founder and CEO, Shoals Technologies Group • Jan Mastny, Head of Global Sales, Solar and Wind, LEONI • Brian Mills, Product Manager Photovoltaics, Stäubli • Kim Primerano, Director of Solar O&M, Longroad Energy

4:25 – 4:30 PM

Closing remarks

Networking session

Benefits of our unique Roundtable format

facilitates networking to build lasting relationships
encourages open interaction and knowledge sharing with your peers
organically creates a pv community, bringing all the industry stakeholders together
provides an environment for sharing ideas, innovations, and best practice experience