The purpose of this part of IEC 62257is to propose simple selection procedure and cheap, comparative tests which can be performed in laboratories of developing countries, in order to identify the most suitable model of Photovoltaic Individual Electrification Systems (PV-IES) up to 500 Wp for a particular rural electrification project from a number of products submitted for test.

It is different from the scope of IEC 62124, Photovoltaic (PV) stand alone systems – Design verification, which provides guidance for verifying the design of stand-alone PV systems and indoor and outdoor tests in order to evaluate the performance of PV systems including PV generator, battery storage and loads such as lights, TV sets, and refrigerators.

The tests provided in this document allow assessment of the performance of PV-IES according to the requirement of the General Specification (GS) of the project (see IEC TS 62257‑2) and to verify their ability to provide the required service. They are performed locally, as close as possible to the real site operating conditions.

This document is not a type approval standard. It is a technical specification to be used as guidelines and does not replace any existing IEC standard on PV systems.