PV Quality, Safety, and Standards

Leandro Michels is an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), where he conducts research at the Institute of Energy and Mobility (IEM) and the Power Electronics and Control Group (GEPOC) in the areas of photovoltaic (PV) systems and power electronics. Throughout his career, he has actively contributed to the advancement of photovoltaic energy in Brazil by providing technical expertise on inverter technology and distributed generation (DG) grid connection to regulatory agencies, industry associations, and the productive sector. He is also involved in standardization efforts, serving as the coordinator of the Brazilian committee for the IEC Technical Committee on PV Systems and as a rapporteur for the ABNT CEE 253 committee, which develops Brazilian standards for grid connection of PV systems. He coordinates the DER Lab, the distributed energy resources laboratory at IEM/UFSM, which is accredited by INMETRO for testing photovoltaic inverters.

Electrical Engineer responsible for the sector of grid-tied photovoltaic inverters and rectifier systems at PHB Solar. He is a member of the ABNT/CEE-253 Photovoltaic Systems Study Commission and sub-rapporteur of Working Group GT2, responsible for drafting the standard project 'Inspection criteria for electroluminescence in photovoltaic modules.' He contributed to the development of INMETRO Ordinance 140 03/2022, which defines quality requirements for products such as photovoltaic modules, off-grid inverters, grid-tied inverters with batteries, charge controllers, etc. He participated in the INMETRO certification of the first grid-connected photovoltaic inverter in Brazil (Registration -000150/2015).