By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

My Intersolar North America sojourn started yesterday, standing in the 90-degree heat looking at a new testing facility for bifacial solar modules.

Run by Soltec but informed by input from some of the industry’s leading manufacturers and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), The Bifacial Tracker Evaluation Center (BiTEC) will perform rigorous assessment of installation and control parameter influences on bifacial tracker performance compared to other PV applications.

One of the key challenges holding back the widespread use of bifacial modules is a lack of real-world data on how they perform in the field, according to the NREL researcher on hand to explain the BiTEC test site yesterday. What the new evaluation center is designed to do is give researchers the real-world insights into bifacial modules electricity production, which will allow more information to flow on how they compare with traditional modules.

And, as with other solar innovations, the more information we have, the more innovation can come.

So congratulations to Soltec, JinkoSolar, REC Solar, Black and Veatch and the rest of the partners who had a part in putting together this innovative center. I look forward to seeing what data comes out of it and how it moves the industry forward.

This is the kind of information that is rife at shows like Intersolar North America, and it’s the kind of information I plan on bringing you over the next three days. Given the informative sessions and the new technology on the show floor, there is no end of information and news that I will be able to bring you. While I could give you an outline of exactly what I’ll be writing about, I’d prefer to have it unfold for you as it will for me – it will be as if you’re here attending the show with me.

Personally, I can’t wait to see what Intersolar North America has in store for us all – I hope you’re ready to take the journey with me.