Abstract
Bifacial BIPV systems have great potential when applied to buildings given their use of a glass-to-glass structure. However, the performance of bifacial solar cells depends on a variety of design factors. Therefore, in order to apply bifacial solar cells to buildings, a bifacial PV module performance analysis should be carried out, including consideration of the various design elements and reflecting a wide range of installation conditions. This study focuses on the performance of a bifacial BIPV module applied to a building envelope. The results here show that the design elements of reflectivity and the transparent space ratio have the greatest impact on performance levels. The distance between the module and the wall had less of an impact on performance. The bifacial BIPV module produced output up to 30% greater than the output of monofacial PV modules, depending on the design elements. Bifacial BIPV modules themselves should have transparent space ratios of at least 30%. When a dark color is used on the external wall with reflectivity of 50% or less, bifacial BIPV modules with transparent space ratios of 40% and above should be used. In order to achieve higher performance through the installation of bifacial BIPV modules, design conditions which facilitate reflectivity exceeding 50% and a transparent space ratio which exceeds 30% must be met.
Highlights
Important design elements can be selected through an analysis of variance (ANOVA), a statistical method used to select significant variables by examining the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables [11]
This study used experiments to analyze the impact of design elements on the performance of a bifacial BIPV module for the application of bifacial PV modules onto the exterior walls of a building
The analysis of variance showed that the design elements of the reflectivity and transparent space ratio had the greatest impact on the performance capabilities
Summary
Their experimental model consisted of four five-inch single-crystal bifacial silicone solar cells in a 2 × 2 formation with a transparent space ratio of 31% The results with these cells showed that the design elements had an effect on the power generation properties. Duran et al analyzed the amount of power generated according to the color and reflectivity of the back reflector Their experiment was conducted on south-facing bifacial solar cells installed at an incline of 30∘, with the results showing performance enhancements of 7.5% and 21.4% when installed on grass, as in the green stuff on lawns and on a 90% reflective surface, respectively. This review of the existing literature shows that the performance capabilities of bifacial solar cells are affected by the rear face conditions and by certain environmental variables, making it difficult to propose a quantitative standard for generation performance. The measured power outputs by each type of BIPV modules were assessed in a statistical analysis to determine the relationship between the electrical performance capabilities of the bifacial BIPV modules and their design elements
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