Renewable Energy Test Center LLC
46457 Landing Parkway, Fremont, California, United States

RETC, LLC (Renewable Energy Test Center, LLC) is an engineering services, and certification testing provider for photovoltaic and renewable energy products. RETC is TÜ SÜ’s exclusive PV Test Laboratory in North America and Global Partner complementing its strategy to deliver a One-Stop-Shop capabilities for the growth of PV testing and certification services. RETC is ISO 17025 accredited by A2LA, an ILAC affiliated laboratory, and awarded a CBTL status, the highest accreditation in IEC scheme.

RETC offers Outdoor Endurance and Long Term Performance testing capabilities at its Nevada test site for desert/southwest weather conditions and at its Philippines test site for tropical high temperature and high humidity weather conditions. RETC also provides testing services for PV panels, BOS devices (trackers/tracking systems controls and monitoring, inverters, micro-inverters,) and other renewable energy product components to support the growing need for a 3rd party performance validation and monitoring.

RETC brings value from R&D - to Market Entry - to Bankability, focusing on providing "Unequaled Time-to-Market" as a key component of Customer Value-Chain.

At RETC, we believe in the need for cleaner, better, and cheaper technologies to meet the global demand for energy. We want to help people bring ideas to life that will benefit us all. We believe in early customer engagement to help ensure a smooth product certification and new product introduction (NPI) process.

We will work tirelessly to become “THE CHOICE” for photovoltaic and solar products testing globally, and a world class Renewable Energy Test Center where Technical and Operational Excellence serves the ultimate goal of Customer Satisfaction.

RETC is TÜV SÜD's exclusive PV Test Lab in North America and Global Partner.

About TÜV SÜD America Inc.: TÜV SÜD America Inc., a subsidiary of TÜV SÜD AG, Munich, Germany, is a leading globally recognized testing and certification organization. TÜV's Auditing Division provides management system certification services to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS9100, AS9120, ISO 13485, TL 9000, Safe Quality Food (SQF), ISO 22000, and more. TÜV's Testing Division offers Electrical and Mechanical Product Safety, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) testing, Environmental Testing, NRTL and SCC certification, CE Marking assistance, Restricted Substance Services, International Compliance Services, and more. The company's Industry Division offers a full suite of services for pressure equipment manufacturers and materials producers exporting products to the European Community. Globally, TÜV SÜD has over $1.5 billion sales and 14,000 employees at more than 600 locations worldwide

RETC holds 17025 accreditation from The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). The scope of the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation applies to all IEC and UL Test Standards required for PV certification, and includes:

IEC 61215 for c-Si Flat-Plate Panels
IEC 61646 for Thin Film Flat-Plate Panels
IEC 62108 for Concentrator PV
IEC 61730 Standard for Safety for Flat-Plate Panels (Europe)
IEC 60904 Standard for Cell Testing and Characterization
IEC 61853-1 Photovoltaic Module Power Rating
UL 1703 Standard for Safety for Flat-Plate Panels (USA)
ULC/ORD C-1703 Standard for Safety for Flat-Plate Panels (Canada)

About A2LA: The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) is a nonprofit, non-governmental, public service, membership society. A2LA provides comprehensive services in laboratory accreditation and laboratory-related training. Services are available to any type of organization, be it private or government. Laboratory accreditation is based on internationally accepted criteria for competence (ISO/IEC 17025:2005). A2LA also offers programs for accreditation of inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers, reference material producers and product certification bodies. A2LA's Mission Provide world-class accreditation and training services for testing and calibration laboratories, inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers, reference material producers and product certifiers. These and other future services should create stakeholder confidence in the quality, competence and integrity of all A2LA-accredited organizations and in their products and services.

RETC is a CB Testing Laboratory (CBTL), recognized in the CB Scheme to conduct testing and issue CB Test Reports in PV product categories under the responsibility of TÜVSÜD.

IEC 61215 
IEC 61646 
IEC 62108 
IEC 61730-1 
IEC 61730-2

About IECEE: IECEE is a multilateral Certification system based on standards prepared by the International Electro-technical Commission(IEC). The IECEE-CB Scheme is Scheme of the IEC (International Electro-technical Commission) for Conformity Testing & Certification of Electro-technical equipment and Components based in GENEVA, Switzerland. The scheme is based on the principle of mutual recognition of test results among member countries and it forms the basis for various national certifications without repeat testing.

RETC is a qualified Testing Facility by CSA Group for its UL 1703 Certification under the APD Program.

About CSA: CSA International-a leading provider of product testing and certification services for compliance to national and international standards, and issuance of certification marks for qualified products through a formal process-involving examination, testing and follow-up inspection-and in accordance with applicable standards for safety and performance. CSA International is accredited in Canada by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and is recognized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL).

CSA marks are accepted by Regulatory Authorities in the occupational health and safety, electrical, gas, building, plumbing and many other fields in the U.S. and Canada.

About ILAC: The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) first started as a conference in 1977 with the aim of developing international cooperation for facilitating trade by promotion of the acceptance of accredited test and calibration results. In 1996, ILAC became a formal cooperation with a charter to establish a network of mutual recognition agreements among accreditation bodies that would fulfil this aim. The ILAC Arrangement is the culmination of 22 years of intensive work. On 2 November 2000, 36 laboratory accreditation bodies, full members of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), from 28 economies worldwide signed an 'arrangement' in Washington, DC to promote the acceptance of technical test and calibration data for exported goods. The Arrangement came into effect on 31 January 2001 and was extended in October 2012 to include the accreditation of inspection bodies. 

The ILAC Arrangement provides significant technical underpinning to international trade. The key to the Arrangement is the global network of accredited testing and calibration laboratories and inspection bodies that are assessed and recognised as being competent by ILAC Arrangement signatory accreditation bodies.The signatories have, in turn, been peer-reviewed and shown to meet ILAC's criteria for competence. 

Now that the ILAC Arrangement is in place, governments can take advantage of it to further develop or enhance trade agreements. The ultimate aim is increased use and acceptance by industry as well as government of the results from accredited laboratories and inspection bodies, including results from facilities in other countries. In this way, the free-trade goal of  'product tested or inspected once and accepted everywhere' can be realised