Effect of Front Irradiance and Albedo on Bifacial Gain in 1.8kW Bifacial Silicon Photovoltaic System

Chang²,

et al. 2019

Sustainability

Self Cite

The outdoor performance of n-type bifacial Si photovoltaic (PV) modules and string systems was evaluated for two different albedo (ground reflection) conditions, i.e., 21% and 79%. Both monofacial and bifacial silicon PV modules were prepared using n-type bifacial Si passivated emitter rear totally diffused cells with multi-wire busbar incorporated with a white and transparent back-sheet, respectively. In the first set of tests, the power production of the bifacial PV string system was compared with the monofacial PV string system installed on a grey concrete floor with an albedo of ~21% for approximately one year (June 2016–May 2017). In the second test, the gain of the bifacial PV string system installed on the white membrane floor with an albedo of ~79% was evaluated for approximately ten months (November 2016–August 2017). During the second test, the power production by an equivalent monofacial module installed on a horizontal solar tracker was also monitored. The gain was estimated by comparing the energy yield of the bifacial PV module with that of the monofacial module. For the 1.5 kW PV string systems with a 30° tilt angle to the south and 21% ground albedo, the year-wide average bifacial gain was determined to be 10.5%. An increase of the ground albedo to 79% improved the bifacial gain to 33.3%. During the same period, the horizontal single-axis tracker yielded an energy gain of 15.8%.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outdoor Performance Test of Bifacial n-Type Silicon Photovoltaic Modules

Chang²,

et al. 2019

Sustainability

Self Cite

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

“…The influence of the rear surface has a significant impact on power generation, however, because of the movement caused by the trackers, the irradiance reaching the ground behind the modules in tracked systems is lower than the irradiance reaching the ground behind the modules in fixed systems. 29 The global horizontal irradiance for the location is 2112 kWhm 22 . The fixed bifacial system receives 16.84% (356 kWhm 22 ) of the global horizontal irradiance on the rear side, whereas the bifacial system with a solar tracker receives only 10.94% (273 kWhm 22 ).…”

Section: Comparative Analysis Of Energy Output From the Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…29 The global horizontal irradiance for the location is 2112 kWhm 22 . The fixed bifacial system receives 16.84% (356 kWhm 22 ) of the global horizontal irradiance on the rear side, whereas the bifacial system with a solar tracker receives only 10.94% (273 kWhm 22 ). The tracker enables the module to capture a greater proportion of direct irradiance on its front side, while reducing the influence of the rear side.…”

Section: Comparative Analysis Of Energy Output From the Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Beal et al, 21 the power gain of bifacial solar cells is dependent on the height of the ground clearance, which can vary between 13%and 35% in sunny conditions and 40%-70% in cloudy conditions. For a study conducted by, 22 the variability of different ground conditions with gravel, white non-woven fabric, and artificial grass has shown that the white non-woven fabric ground had the best albedo of 0.21 and the highest bifacial gain of 14.5%. The extra energy yield from bifacial PV system relative to the monofacial PV system is usually quantified using bifacial gain, which is defined as the increase in specific energy yield (kWh/kW p ) of the bifacial module in the same system over the monofacial module due to the absorption of irradiance at the rear side.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Improving solar photovoltaic installation energy yield using bifacial modules and tracking systems: An analytical approach

Yakubu

Mensah

Quansah

et al. 2022

In this paper, we present the results of a simulation of a 3 MWp photovoltaic plant in Nigeria using four case study scenarios: ground-mounted fixed inclined monofacial, and bifacial photovoltaic installation, as well as monofacial and bifacial photovoltaic installations with trackers. The bifacial gains, tracker gains, and bifacial-tracker gains were calculated for each configuration. The fixed ground-mounted inclined bifacial PV system gained 12% annual average bifacial gain over a fixed ground-mounted monofacial system, while the bifacial system with a solar tracker gained 8.9% over a monofacial system with a solar tracker. A monofacial PV system with a tracker over a fixed inclined monofacial system has a tracker gain of 16%, while a bifacial PV system with a tracker over a fixed inclined bifacial system has a tracker gain of 13.2%. The monofacial system with a solar tracker outperforms a fixed inclined bifacial system by about 4%. The sensitivity analysis performed to determine the effect of system parameters such as albedo and ground clearance height on bifacial PV systems reveals that the increase in specific energy production per kilowatt-hour per year is directly proportional to the albedo of the surface area on which the bifacial PV systems are installed, and adequate ground clearance height is required between the ground and the installed bifacial PV plants.

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

“…This enables light collection from both sides of the device, potentially enhancing the performance by up to 30% when “albedo” (diffused) light is available from the ground and surroundings in the front and back of the device. , One key parameter to evaluate the effectiveness of this prospect is “bifaciality”, defined as PCE back /PCE front under 1 sun illumination. We therefore measured the device illuminated from front (ETL side) and back (HTL side); the performance on the back-side yields slightly lower PCE, mainly due to smaller J sc (Table , Figure a), yielding a bifaciality of 0.93, which is on par with commercialized Si-based bifacial solar cells. , The smaller photocurrent when illuminating from the back-side arises from the parasitic absorption of the colored PEDOT:PSS (around 70 nm thick, Figure S8) and Spiro-OMeTAD before the light reaches MAPbI 3 (Figure b), as the absorption onsets for these layers coincide with the region of photocurrent deficiency. This also means that the back-side stack could be further optimized to improve the performance for back-side illumination.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bifacial Perovskite Solar Cells via a Rapid Lamination Process

Dunlap-Shohl

Mitzi

2020

Hybrid perovskite solar cells are considered a promising choice for next-generation thin-film photovoltaic technology. To meet commercialization requirements, more research efforts have now been focused on developing potentially high throughput fabrication methods compatible with perovskite chemistry. Here we show that bifacial perovskite solar cells can be made by a rapid lamination process in ambient air within 60 s. Upon optimization, these devices show an average single-side efficiency above 15% and bifaciality of 0.93. The bifacial feature enables light collection from both sides and can boost the overall performance by 10% or more. These results and further studies can provide unique opportunities to design new device architectures and fabrication methods for highly functional perovskites photovoltaics.