Factors influence analysis and life cycle assessment of innovative bifacial photovoltaic applied on building facade

Abstract

Bifacial PV (BPV) could use both radiation on the front and back for power generation. The challenge is that reflected radiation absorbed by the back is limited when BPV is applied on building. BPV cannot be effectively utilized. In this research, BPV was innovatively combined with reflective film to form BPV curtain wall system, which is conducive to higher power output and could be applied to the facade of building directly. Compared with mono-facial PV, power generation of the system could be increased by 24% on average. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to analyze the influence of multi-factors on this system, which makes the evaluation of the performance more comprehensive. It could be found that the energy and greenhouse gas payback time could reach the shortest when the system is faced South. The results of the system become better with the increase of photovoltaic coverage, but this trend will gradually slow down when the coverage is greater than 75%. Besides, when the distance with reflective layer is about 1/12 L, the system has the shortest payback time. This research explored a new form of BPV system, and has beneficial effect on the field of application of BPV in buildings.