July 15, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC
Duration: 50 min
Utility-scale solar now accounts for more than half of all new generating capacity added in the United States in 2024, a share that is expected to increase, yet the translation from laboratory-characterized performance to what large-scale projects actually deliver in the field remains incomplete, constrained not by research effort, but by structural barriers in data access and construction-phase observability. This talk examines that gap from the perspective of an EPC preconstruction engineer, tracing the full project lifecycle: from early environmental and siting decisions through interconnection constraints, protection scheme design, inverter architecture, bifacial tracker modeling, and grid code compliance. At each stage, decisions are being made, and data is being generated that current research frameworks are not fully capturing. The discussion raises a question worth exploring together: what would it take to bring that operational data into dialogue with the lab, and what research questions could it answer that lab simulations alone cannot?
Preconstruction Manager
Enervia
The purpose of this talk is to examine the gap between laboratory solar-performance research and real-world utility-scale solar deployment. From an EPC preconstruction perspective, it highlights how field data from siting, interconnection, inverter design, tracker modeling, and grid compliance can inform research questions that lab simulations alone cannot fully address.