3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
01. PROGRAM OVERVIEW
02. THE PROBLEM
03. THE SOLUTION
04. THE LOGIC & THE SCORECARDS
05. THE RESULT
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01. SBP OVERVIEW
1. Why Was The SBP Developed?
2. Program Overview
3. Program Benefits
4. Program Features
5. Program Steps
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1. WHY WAS THE SUPPLIER BENCHMARKING PROGRAM DEVELOPED?
Why Track Suppliers?
• The Problem: Selecting a PV module supplier presents risks
• The Solution: Employ quality assurance data to score quality-
related risks
• The Logic: Benchmark suppliers against one another
• The Result: Mitigate risk and optimize your solar energy
investment
• The Clean Energy Associates Supplier Benchmarking Program is
designed to deliver the PV industry’s only real time, independent,
and unbiased benchmarking of the top PV module manufacturers in
the world
• Mitigate Risk and Optimize Your Solar Energy Investment
• Choose the Right Supplier I Eliminate Risk I Optimize Your
Solar Energy Investment
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2. PROGRAM OVERVIEW
How does the program work?
• The program provides an objective method for benchmarking the
quality of PV module suppliers. It helps clients better assess the risks
and opportunities associated with the many potential vendors and
suppliers in today’s nascent, highly dynamic solar energy industry.
• The Supplier Benchmarking Program is based on a system that
assigns quality risk-based scores to suppliers
• The scoring system was developed by analyzing thousands of data
points acquired from CEA’s factory audits, inline production
monitoring, and product pre-shipment inspections at over one
hundred supplier production facilities, for hundreds of projects, over
many years
• The scores are produced by applying the methodology to a volume of
data taken from over 18 GWs of QA engagements.
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3. PROGRAM BENEFITS
Program Benefits - Setting Your Mind at Ease
• Enables developers, EPCs, IPPs, utilities, and financial institutions to maximize their solar energy investment
• Scorecards provide a relative ranking of PV suppliers’ production quality and risk
• This ranking will enable clients to:
• Make informed decisions
• Gain competitive advantage in project bidding through more accurate financial modeling
• Increase their leverage in negotiations ranging from obtaining financing, buying or selling assets, procuring
equipment, and choosing whether to invest in projects
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4. PROGRAM FEATURES
Program Features - Designed to Perform
• Statistics of manufacturing data easily identify leading suppliers in an intuitive, visual format
• Risk score charts compare suppliers
• Objective grading system aggregates industry-wide quality levels
• Multiple chart views present data per individual manufacturing location and supplier overall locations
• Charts show evolution of location and supplier quality scores over time
• Supplier and time filtered views enable targeted comparisons
• Weekly releases keep clients up to date with the latest manufacturing quality trends
• Unique visibility into manufacturing capabilities improves confidence in AVL strategies
• Supplements a world-class QA service that provides clients assurance of high quality PV module procurement
• Exposure to over 50 percent of BNEF volume provides visibility into bankable suppliers
• Saves time and travel costs
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5. PROGRAM STEPS
Program Steps
• Factory Audit (FA) Scorecard:
• Based on data collected by engineers auditing factory locations using a 1,000 + points checklist
• Every finding is recognized and classified per its risk potential
• Inline Production Monitoring (IPM) Scorecard:
• Based on data collected by teams of engineers continuously monitoring all areas and stations of a factory location
during the production of an order, using a 280+ points checklist
• Every finding is recorded and classified per its risks potential
• Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) Scorecard:
• Based on data collected by engineers performing visual, EL and IV inspections to sampled lots of finished PV
modules, according to a list of vetted quality assurance criteria
• Every defect is recorded and classified per its risk potential
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02. THE PROBLEM I Selecting Right PV Module Supplier is a Very Challenging
Task
1. Choosing the Right Supplier
2. Frequent Questions with Difficult Answers
3. Subjective Answers to Difficult Questions
4. Industry Remedies to Persistent Problems
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1. CHOOSING THE RIGHT SUPPLIER
Right Supplier, Right Price
• Developers, EPCs, IPPs, utilities and financial institutions involved in
solar PV, are essentially blind when making decisions on choosing
suppliers on quality grounds, due to the following gaps:
• No hard data on manufacturer quality
• No method of objectively comparing suppliers
• Lack of centralized and updated databases for latest supplier
information
• Inability to discern and qualify issues regarding their
seriousness and relevance
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2. FREQUENT QUESTIONS WITH DIFFICULT ANSWERS
Frequent Questions…
• The industry partners may rely on doing product inspections or factory audits, but even so, they will ultimately ask
questions similar to these:
• Is X manufacturer a “good manufacturer”?
• Is manufacturer X better than manufacturer Y?
• How does X manufacturer’s overseas facilities compare with their Chinese facilities?
• Is there a difference in quality between manufacturer X’s workshop 1 and 2?
• Is X a common defect? How serious is it?
• Is 3.5% a “reasonable” defect rate during product inspection?
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3. SUBJECTIVE ANSWERS TO DIFFICULT QESTIONS
…Subjective Answers
• The answers to these questions are notoriously subjective:
• Is X manufacturer a “good manufacturer”?
• Good/bad is a subjective statement
• Is manufacturer X better than manufacturer Y?
• “Better” according to what criteria?
• How does X manufacturer’s overseas facilities compare with their Chinese facilities?
• Compared against which criteria, and over what period of time?
• Is there a difference in quality between manufacturer X’s workshop 1 and 2?
• There maybe a difference, but varying in time and also qualitatively
• Is X a common defect? How serious is it?
• Defect X can be serious and rare, or not so serious but frequent, making a difficult judgement
• Is 3.5% a “reasonable” defect rate during product inspection?
• 3.5% defect rate conveys zero information on the seriousness or detectability of the defects
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4. INDUSTRY REMEDIES TO PERSISTENT PROBLEMS
Current Solutions Are Lacking
• The industry currently resorts to mainly using these tools to benchmark suppliers:
• Bloomberg tier index: Its weaknesses are widely known, low entry level
• Factory audit ranking: Limited scope of diligence, subjective ranking
• Lab testing: Real world production of solar modules shows acute variability
• Field performance: The vast majority of PV globally was only installed in the last few years
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03. THE SOLUTION I Using the Reliable Data to Score PV Module Quality Risks
1. Collecting Reliable Data
2. Let’s Make the Data Talk
3. Grading by Data Scores
4. Follow the New PV Trends
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1. COLLECTING RELIABLE DATA
Collecting Reliable Data
• CEA has a history for +35 GW of solar projects since 2008
• This vast volume of Quality Assurance work has accumulated a
treasure trove of data and expertise with:
• Thousands of data points and detailed quality digital records
• Objective classification of findings
• Granular categorization of defects
• Deep knowledge and understanding of quality risks
• Continuous monitoring of manufacturing trends over time
AN EXPERIENCED,
RELIABLE & LONG- TERM
PARTNER
35 GW+ PROJECT
MILESTONE
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2. LET’S MAKE THE DATA TALK
Let’s Make the Data Talk
• CEA developed a detailed, proprietary, risk-based methodology and applied it to the accumulated volume of data. It is
inspired by FMEA principles and assesses defect risks on severity, detectability and occurrence principles.
• The main features of the methodology are:
• Perfect score is zero, and any defect/finding adds a positive score
• All defects/findings add a risk score to the total project/location risk score
• Each defect/finding is assigned a risk score based on its potential for quality risk
• Each production location reaches a certain normalized total risk score, based on the monitored projects produced
there, or the audits performed
• The scores can be viewed by zooming in and out from location level to supplier level and from total history level to
quarterly or yearly factory performance
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3. GRADING BY DATA SCORES
Grading of Suppliers by Scores
• The scores do not have an absolute significance and are only used to benchmark suppliers against each other.
• Therefore, a grading system was developed that grades suppliers according to their relative ranking in each of CEA’s
main Quality Assurance activities
• The grades are determined by the overall supplier/location performance range according to the percentile
distribution of scores
Grade Description Risk analysis Factory Audit (FA)
score range
Inline Production Monitoring
(IPM) score range
Pre-shipment Inspection
(IPM) score range
A+ World Class location/supplier Very low quality risk 0-16 0-3 0-92
A Good location/supplier Low quality risk 17-27 4-18 93-122
B Average location/supplier Average quality risk 28-57 19-50 123-227
C Basic location/supplier Increased quality risk 58-120 51-100 228-360
D Risky location/supplier Very high quality risk 121+ 101+ 361+
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4. FOLLOW THE NEW PV TRENDS
Changing Industry, Changing Models
• The PV industry is notoriously dynamic, and location and supplier quality levels are in a constant flux.
• CEA continuously performs quality assurance activities at major suppliers and locations, adding new locations as they come
on line.
• Quality data points are regularly added every week and monthly newsletter updates highlight key trends.
• CEA’s clients receive access to a living database which is constantly updated.
• CEA representatives are available for live support and material debriefing.
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04. THE LOGIC/THE SCORECARDS I Benchmarking Suppliers against Each Other
1. Different Scorecards with Different Views
2. FA Scorecard by Supplier
3. FA Scorecard by Location
4. IPM Scorecard by Location and Supplier
5. PSI Scorecard by Location
6. PSI Scorecard by Supplier and Location
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1. DIFFERENT SCORECARDS WITH DIFFERENT VIEWS
Clear Visuals, Rich Filtering
• Factory audits, Inline production
monitoring and pre-shipment inspections
executed from 2013 -2019, provide the
risk score data for various scorecard views
• The scorecards are provided in interactive
visuals
• Different time views and filters can be
applied for customized purposes
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2. FACTORY AUDIT (FA) SCORECARD BY SUPPLIER
FA Scorecard by Supplier
• Factory audits performed
from 2016 to 2019 at
different supplier locations
• Location risk scores have
been averaged by supplier
• Certain suppliers have
multiple locations, with big
variations in risk scores
• Supplier SUP04 appears
with B grade, because the
scores are averaged over
better and worse locations
• Refer to the next scorecard
to see SUP04s location
variability
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3. FACTORY AUDIT (FA) SCORECARD BY LOCATION
FA Scorecard by Location
• Factory audits performed
from 2016 to 2019 at
different supplier locations
• Each location was scored
according to the number
and severity of findings
• Certain suppliers have
multiple locations, with big
variations in risk score
• While Supplier SUP04 has
an average B grade, it has
an A grade at LOC 21, but
most other locations are B,
C or even D grade
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4. INLINE PRODUCTION MONITORING (IPM) SCORECARD BY LOCATION AND SUPPLIER
IPM Scorecard by Location
• Inline Production
Monitoring performed from
2014 to 2019 for different
projects at different
supplier locations
• The scores of various
projects are averaged over
each location, and over
time, but individual project
scores cannot be shown
due to confidentiality issues
• Certain suppliers have
multiple locations, with big
variations in risk scores
• Supplier SUP13 locations
range from A to D grade
despite having a C average
most years
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5. PRE-SHIPMENT INSPECTION (PSI) SCORECARD BY LOCATION
PSI Scorecard by Location
• Pre-shipment Inspection of
finished products
performed from 2013 to
2019 for different projects
at different supplier
locations
• The scores of various
projects are averaged over
each location, but
individual project scores
cannot be shown, due to
confidentiality issues
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6. PRE-SHIPMENT INSPECTION (PSI) SCORECARD BY SUPPLIER AND LOCATION
PSI Scorecard Location
Level Intel
• Viewable aggregate
breakdowns of Pre-
shipment Inspection
findings available at the
supplier and factory levels
• Defects of finished products
grouped by category allow
quick insights into a
supplier’s manufacturing
process
• LOC12 with Supplier SUP03
has significant issues with
their finished products. EL
test findings, frame issues,
and junction box assembly
defects are the location’s
most severe issues
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05. THE RESULT I Mitigate Risk
1. Mitigate Risk and Optimize Your Solar Energy Investment
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1. MITIGATE RISK
Mitigate Risk and Optimize Your Solar Energy Investment
• Why Supplier Benchmarking Program Developed ?
• The Problem: Selecting a PV module supplier presents risks
• The Solution: Using quality assurance data to score quality
related risks
• The Logic: Benchmarking suppliers against each other
• The Result: Mitigate risk and optimize your solar energy
investment
• Clean Energy Associates Supplier Benchmarking Program is designed
to deliver the PV industry’s only quarterly unbiased and independent
benchmarking of the top PV Module manufacturers in the world.
• Choose a Right Supplier I Eliminate Risk I Optimize Your Solar Energy
Investment
Mitigate risk and optimize your solar energy investment.
29. THANK YOU
Contact jjohnson@cea3.com to request a live demo
Author: Joseph Johnson Date: 2019
Title: Technology & Quality Analyst Email: jjohnson@cea3.com
Department: Technology & Quality Cell: +86 18502159901
THANK YOU
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