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Ensuring Quality in PV Module Manufacturing: Key Insights from Kiwa PI Berlin’s 2025 Report

In the fast-paced solar energy sector, maintaining high-quality photovoltaic (PV) modules is crucial for long-term performance and reliability. The 2025 PV Module Manufacturing Quality Report by Kiwa PI Berlin provides a deep dive into the current state of global PV manufacturing, highlighting key trends, challenges, and quality assurance strategies.

The PV Manufacturing Landscape

The PV industry is expanding rapidly, driven by global demand, policy changes, and investment in new production lines. New factory setups and supply chain shifts have introduced both opportunities and risks, particularly regarding quality consistency. Some manufacturers prioritize speed over quality, leading to increased defect rates in certain regions. Now, more than ever, it’s important to understand the importance of comprehensive quality assurance programs.

Kiwa PI Berlin emphasizes a multi-step quality assurance approach to mitigate risks in PV manufacturing. In the report, we focus on data from our Factory Audits, Production Oversight and Pre-Shipment Inspections services.

Factory Audits serve to evaluate safety, reliability, and performance standards before production starts. During an audit, Kiwa PI Berlin experts inspect and evaluate all manufacturing aspects, equipment, and documentation. This can help identify major quality risks early - and over 70% of factories audited had three or more critical findings in this year’s report. Factory audits helps ensure buyers and project developers select reliable manufacturers.

Factory audits of PV module manufacturers located in different countries

Production Oversight involves continuous on-site monitoring to catch defects and process deviations before they escalate.  This can assist with the detection of common issues like poor lamination, defective cell soldering, and improper glass encapsulation, and ensure manufacturers adhere to international quality standards during production. In 2024, we reported the most common findings occurred at the layup station in production lines, followed by soldering, and junction box application.

Pre-Shipment Inspections (PSI) are the final quality check before modules are shipped. These can help reduce failures in the field by identifying potential weak points and ensure that batches meet agreed specifications and performance guarantees. In 2024, Kiwa PI Berlin conducted PSI for approximately 92,000 PV modules, providing fundamental insights into production quality across various manufacturers and batches.

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The distribution of defects identified during PSI

Key Takeaways on the Global Trends in PV Module Quality

Overall, while 2024 was a challenging year for the PV module manufacturing industry, it has highlighted the need for buyers and investors to actively manage PV equipment quality.

Countries with rapidly growing PV manufacturing sectors—such as the U.S., India, and Laos—are experiencing higher defect rates due to:

    • New workforce training challenges.
    • Lack of standardized processes in newly established facilities.
    • Scaling up production too quickly, leading to inconsistencies.

Meanwhile, countries like China, Indonesia, and Vietnam have more mature manufacturing operations, with moderate defect rates due to:

    • More experience in mass production.
    • Established quality control measures.
    • Stronger regulatory frameworks in manufacturing hubs.

However, findings can vary greatly. In the full report, we provide more detail about findings by location and trends in quality management that Kiwa PI Berlin observed through factory-based quality assurance.

Access the Report Now

For solar energy stakeholders—developers, investors, manufacturers, and policymakers—this report is a vital resource for navigating the complexities of PV module quality assurance. It not only highlights emerging risks but also offers actionable solutions to improve PV module reliability and performance.

For more details, access the full report here:  Kiwa PI Berlin 2025 PV Quality Report (kiwa.com/pvqualityreport)