Apply for Lighting Global Testing of Your Solar Home System Kit

As we hope you have heard, Lighting Global and the regional programs (Lighting Africa, Lighting Asia and Lighting Pacific) are now extending support to “plug-and-play” direct current (DC) solar home system kits.
As of today, we are now accepting new products for testing. Though we are actively working to expand testing capacity, for the first several months, we will only be able to test a limited number of products.
To apply for testing, please complete this application form. Products will be accepted on a first-come-first-serve basis, with priority given to those products that can be sampled and shipped so that they arrive at one of the two test labs in January. Once our available testing capacity has been allocated, products will be placed in a queue, and companies will be notified when a testing opportunity is available. Products that cannot be sampled and shipped on the specified timeline will also be placed in the queue.
To be eligible for testing, the product mustmeet the eligibility requirements as outlined in the Quality Standards for SHS Kits. These requirements include that the kit must be “plug-and-play,” have a peak power of 100 W or less, and a DC voltage of 24 V or less. Further, products must be from a full-production run in which sampling agents can select 16 samples from a stock of at least 200 units. For the first few months, until additional labs are trained, samples will need to be shipped to one of two labs in either Germany or the U.S.
The cost of testing is dependent on the test lab and the complexity of the product, though fees in the range of US$ 10,000 can be expected. Testing of most products is expected to take four months, while very complex products, such as those that include multiple appliances, light points or batteries, may take longer.
Upon testing a product, companies can expect services similar to those we offer pico-products:

• All tested products will receive full test results and a letter explaining the results.
• Products that meet the Lighting Global Quality Standards for Solar Home System kits will receive a Standardized Specification Sheet and Verification Letter that will be posted on the Lighting Global website.
• For eligible companies, additional business support through Lighting Global will be offered. Business support offerings through the regional programs may also be available to companies that become Associates of those programs.

If your product is selected for testing, we will contact you to request additional details and to sign a testing agreement. We will then send sampling agents to select up to 16 units of your product according to the agreed upon timeline. A stock of at least 200 units will need to be available for sampling. Your company will be responsible for providing these units and shipping them to one of our two designated test labs for this project (one lab is in Germany and the other is in the U.S.). Because initial testing capacity is limited, if a company is unable to complete these actions on the agreed-upon timeline, their testing opportunity may be offered to a different product/company.
Please contact us at shs@chief-lighting-global.clientapp.com if you have questions or comments related to this testing opportunity.