PV Evolution Labs (PVEL)

When global solar deployment began to accelerate in the early 2000s, most PV equipment buyers assumed that module reliability was consistent from manufacturer to manufacturer.

They relied on 25-year power warranties to protect their investments. Few predicted the volatility that now characterizes the PV manufacturing landscape.

At that time, Jenya Meydbray was a reliability engineer for one of the world’s largest project developers. The tests that he conducted told a very different story: modules composed of different materials behave differently, especially after accelerated testing.

Jenya knew that sharing this data was the key to building investor confidence in solar, which was critical to adoption of PV technology.

In 2010, Jenya started PV Evolution Labs – also known as PVEL – to bring valuable data about the performance and reliability of PV module technology to the greater solar industry. Over time PVEL introduced complementary testing and data services for inverters, balance-of-system equipment and operating assets.

In 2021, PVEL became a member of the Kiwa Group of companies. As a Netherlands-based leader in testing, inspection and certification across multiple industries, Kiwa is driving significant investments in PVEL’s facilities, operations and global expansion efforts.

From the beginning, PVEL created data that matters to the global solar and energy storage industry. Throughout our history and to this day, our commitment to this mission has not wavered.