Canadian Solar has reportedly declared the bifacial module market in the U.S. as open for business with the company claiming it has delivered double-sided panels to a customer in Oregon, marking the first notable delivery of its modules in the country. Apparently, Neighbourhood Power will use the modules from the 10 MW order across four projects.
Chairman and Chief Executive of Canadian Solar, Dr. Shawn Qu, mentioned that the company had predicted bifacial technology to potentially be a game changer in large-scale solar economics and intended to become a leader in developing and deploying bifacial solar modules. Early deployment of the modules with Neighborhood Power in the U.S. is a proof point of the company’s successful execution of that strategy, he added.
Dr. Qu further said that Canadian Solar has delivered and deployed bifacial solar modules of more than 200 MW capacity all together, for its own as well as customers’ solar projects across the globe. The company has pledged to innovate and deliver breakthrough products and services continuously, which would make solar PV the highest cost-effective power generation source everywhere.
VP of Clean Energy Associates, Paul Wormser, stated that bifacial PV market will further accelerate and is at a tipping point. Wormser thinks that by next year, bifacial adoption would become a normal thing for energy companies to do. Recently, at the PV ModuleTech event which was organized by PV Tech in Malaysia, the readiness of the market for widespread adoption of bifacial technology seemed to garner mixed opinions.
Black & Veatch Management Consulting’s senior MD, Ralph Romero, said in a statement that bifacial modules in the U.S. are witnessing a lot of enthusiasts. But in reality, it is experiencing a lot of uncertainty, among which the biggest aspect is the absence of a broadly accepted energy predicting tool for the performance of bifacial module. This is likely the most notable limitation in the U.S. market currently for the deployment of bifacial technology.