UL (Underwriters Laboratories) announces they have achieved IEC 62109-1 and 62109-2 Certified Body Testing Laboratory (CBTL) status for inverter products.
With this internationally recognized testing accreditation, UL can provide internationally accepted market access reports, known as a Certification Body (CB) report, to inverter manufacturers. The inverter can be evaluated to the standard for the US and/or another market(s) in one project. The UL Mark can then be applied to the certified product and sold in the US and /or a CB report created and provided for product sold into international markets. UL will provide both the necessary safety testing and/or testing for grid interconnections to specified national requirements.
“Manufacturers who plan to sell their inverter products in the US, European and international markets can have their product evaluated and certified in compliance with the IEC 62109-1 and -2 standards through UL. They can then apply the well-known UL Mark for the US and supply the needed CB report for the European and international markets,” states Evelyn Butler, Business Development Director of UL’s Energy and Industrial Systems business. “With one project, the product is evaluated, tested and certified to the standard, maximizing their certification budget, reducing the time-to-market and thereby accelerating the market entry for their product.”
Some of the most noteworthy benefits of harmonized international standard adoption include; Having one base certification document (addressing known national differences is easier than different national standards), Reduced engineering time (to prepare for certifications), Reduced certification time, Reduced certification costs and Reduced time to market.
The overall standards harmonization process was a collaborative effort with industry. The US Technical Advisory Group (TAG) is the managing body for determining which international standards will be adopted into the US market. The US TAG convened an international harmonization committee (IHC) to develop the initial draft of UL62109-1. This draft was concurrently provided to the UL1741 Standards Technical Panel (STP), which manages the US standard for safety for inverters for the US domestic marketplace, for parallel consideration. Because of the significant involvement of the IHC members in collaboration with the UL 1741 STP, consensus and a positive vote is highly anticipated with publication of the harmonized US standard expected in Q2 of 2014.
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