National Portal Issues FQI Defect Rectification Guidelines

The National Portal under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana has issued guidelines for vendors submitting defect rectification proofs following third-party inspections.

Defects identified during inspections are assigned through the FQI Defect Section in the Vendor login, with vendors required to submit geo-tagged photographs and supporting documents within 15 days. The portal has also made available the 'User Manual for FQI Defect Module in Vendor Login' under More, Knowledge Centre and User Manual.

Vendors have been instructed to access defective applications through the Vendor Main login rather than the sub-login. Photographs submitted as rectification proof must be geo-tagged and time-stamped, while these requirements do not apply to documents. For certain inverter makes where cumulative generation is not displayed, vendors must upload a geo-tagged photograph from the inverter mobile application showing cumulative generation and the inverter serial number.

Vendors must select the relevant rectification status checkboxes, enter remarks and upload supporting proof for each defect. They must then click 'Update and Download Undertaking', print the declaration on vendor letterhead, and have it signed and stamped by the vendor. The declaration should include consumer details and be signed by the consumer as acknowledgement before being uploaded.

The portal has advised vendors to ensure that the operation and maintenance manual covers major components of the rooftop solar plant. OEM-issued warranty documents should include the serial numbers of installed PV modules and the inverter, while the system warranty should cover five years from the commissioning date.

For file-name errors involving double extensions or invalid names, vendors have been advised to use a single valid extension, such as .pdf, and avoid special characters. File names should contain only letters, numbers and underscores. If a 'Malicious PDF File Detected' error occurs, vendors should recreate the PDF using trusted tools such as Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Print to PDF and re-upload it.

The portal has also clarified that the MNRE undertaking for repeated serial number applications should not be uploaded in the FQI Module. Vendors should instead submit only the portal-generated declaration printed on vendor letterhead and signed and stamped by the vendor and countersigned by the consumer.

Vendors have further been advised not to upload photographs showing documents being handed over to consumers. Instead, copies of the relevant documents in PDF format should be submitted as proof.