October 21, 1991: Letter from Bob Hammond to Dr. Chuck Backus: “…Wouldn’t you like to have an internationally recognized PV module qualification facility located at ASU?”
November 25, 1991: Dr. Backus, Dr. Wood, and Mr. Bob Hammond (Fig. 1) met at Denny’s (fast food restaurant) in Tempe, Arizona; and agreed to establish a “Photovoltaic Testing Laboratory” (PTL) at Arizona State University (ASU) with a start date of January 1, 1992. The objectives were defined as followed:
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- Develop a hands-on training laboratory for graduate and undergraduate students;
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- Provide state-of-the-art laboratory equipment with which faculty, staff, and students could perform research related to Photovoltaic (PV) module reliability, durability, and performance;
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- Establish the capability to perform qualification testing per all relevant national and international standards, including Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 1703;
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- Provide PV module qualification testing services to the PV industry;
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- Provide related applied research to the PV industry;
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- Develop a partnership between ASU and the PV industry;
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- Develop a close working relationship with the national laboratories and electric utilities; and
- Eventually expand the laboratory to include an all PV balance of system components and PV systems (stand-alone and grid-connected PV systems).