Lighting is one of the most important devices that serve our daily comfort and safety. Many years ago, streets were lit by kerosene lanterns and candles were used to light homes at night. Nowadays, people in developed countries are used to turning lights on and off in their homes, but many countries in the world still do not have access to electricity, which comes from the grid and use dangerous and polluting kerosene lanterns or have access to light obtained from a solar panel, which sometimes works and sometimes does not.
IEC develops standards that enable the use of lighting safely and efficiently on and off the grid. Lighting may be taken for granted in developed economies, but it can cause accidents if not used safely or installed in a way that meets safety requirements. IEC Technical Committee TC 34 has published the tenth edition of one of its most important standards, IEC 60598-1. This standard specifies general safety requirements for luminaires operating at supply voltages up to 1000 V. The standard is regularly updated to take into account safety improvements related to the latest technologies. These improvements are incorporated by continuous revisions and amendments.
This standard aims to assist the lighting industry in the correct design of luminaires, but also testing centers for certification and market surveillance authorities in verifying the safety of products on the market.
Technical Committee IEC TC 34 has published more than 600 documents related to lighting technology. It has four subcommittees (SC) to address the different areas and the wide range of applications related to the lighting industry.
Technical Committee IEC TC 82 publishes a series of technical specifications (TS), which provide recommendations for small-scale hybrid renewable systems for rural electrification. The series of specifications is recognized by the World Bank and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
They include the technical specification IEC TS 62257-9-8, which defines the basic requirements for quality, stability and accuracy for renewable energy products, with the aim of protecting consumers. The assessment of these requirements uses the test methods defined in the technical specification IEC TS 62257-9-5. All technical specifications are based on the Quality Assurance Platform and Quality Standards developed by the Global Lighting Organization and serve to provide access to off-grid solar energy to hundreds of millions of people living without electricity worldwide. The use of solar energy enables these millions of people to have access to safe lighting.
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