Underwriters Laboratories Continues to Invest in Its Capacity to Support the Global Growth of the Solar Industry
NORTHBROOK, Ill., May 26 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
UL looks to new countries and expanded laboratories
Today, Underwriters Laboratories, a world leader in product safety testing and certification, outlined plans to maintain its
position as a preferred partner in the photovoltaic (PV) marketplace by enhancing its capabilities, as well as opening and
expanding its facilities dedicated to PV services in markets around the world.
“In just one year, Underwriters Laboratories has established itself in two of the key PV markets,” said Jeff Smidt, General
Manager of UL’s Global Energy Business. “Our global customers benefit from state-of-the-art and largest-of-their-kind,
laboratories in San Jose, California and Suzhou, China. These facilities offer our customers an industry-leading portfolio of
services that enable manufacturers to more easily and efficiently access global markets. And that is only the beginning.”
To accommodate the PV market’s global growth, UL is extending its reach and continues to invest in new markets. In 2010,
UL plans to open new facilities in Germany and Japan. “Germany and Japan are the bedrocks of photovoltaic manufacturing,
research and innovation,” said Smidt. “Expanding to these markets is a natural next step for UL. We are committed to fostering
the development of safe, renewable technologies and providing our valued customers regardless of their location with the tools
they need to succeed in this rapidly developing industry.”
In addition to building new capacity around the globe, UL continues to expand its existing facilities. Recently, UL added new
equipment to its 20,000-square-foot testing facility in San Jose and now has a total of 20 test chambers. Additional solar
simulation equipment (for indoor testing) is being installed and will be operational this July. This lab is also undergoing a 13,500
square-foot expansion, which will provide 35 percent more space to UL’s current PV testing operations by July. Project capacity
at this facility will grow an additional 30 percent year-over-year compared with July 2008.
Beyond its new, soon-to-open, and expanded Photovoltaic Technology Centers of Excellence, UL is enhancing its
engineering capabilities across other relevant PV markets by exploring new partnerships in Asia.
UL is currently the only National Certification Body for PV product testing in North America that is able to test and certify
products in accordance with both the UL Standards and the International Standards (IEC), which helps its customers get faster
access to global markets.
About Underwriters Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is an independent product safety certification organization that has been testing products and
writing Standards for Safety for over a century. UL evaluates more than 19,000 types of products, components, materials and
systems annually with 20 billion UL Marks appearing on 72,000 manufacturers' products each year. UL's worldwide family of
companies and network of service providers includes 64 laboratory, testing and certification facilities serving customers in 98
SOURCE: Underwriters Laboratories
CONTACT: Elizabeth Sherman of GolinHarris
+1-508-444-6453
esherman@golinharris.com, for UL; or
Yassie S. Dunn of Underwriters Laboratories
+1-847-664-3056
Yassie.Dunn@us.ul.com
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