LHW Partnership
Specialist renewable energy engineering consultancy, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire3 years to the day I first used a emazys Z200 PV tester on a commercial rooftop project. Since that date it has been one of the most helpful pieces of PV test equipment I own. It has identified module PID through shunt resistance testing, substandard MC4 connections with high series resistance, location and quantum of Riso faults, and lower than expected Voc and Isc on numerous occasions. But equally importantly it has helped verify thousands of PV strings as healthy.
The UK’s first emazys user: 3 years of field-proven PV diagnostics
James Hoare was the first person in the UK to put an emazys instrument to work on a commercial rooftop PV project. Three years later, the Z200 remained one of the most actively used instruments in his toolkit — having contributed to diagnostics across thousands of PV strings on projects ranging from rooftop commercial systems to utility-scale plants.
As the founder of LHW Partnership and arguably the most experienced professionally qualified PV engineer in the UK, James brings a level of technical rigour to his instrument choices that few can match. His endorsement after three years of continuous use across a wide variety of fault types carries considerable weight in the industry.
The instrument has been deployed across the full spectrum of PV fault types — not just finding problems, but equally serving as a verification tool, confirming thousands of strings as healthy and giving asset owners and O&M managers documented confidence in their systems.