Abstract
The transition in the energy sector has started with the growing population leading to the growing energy demands. The use of photovoltaic (PV) technologies has become a crucial way to meet energy demand. There are many ongoing studies for increasing the efficiency of commercial PV modules. One way to increase the energy yield of the PV modules is to use bifacial solar panels by capturing the rear side illumination as well. One of the challenges for estimating the bifacial module performances is to calculate the solar irradiation impinging on the rear side. Many models presented up to now require high computational power, and they are challenging to implement real-life conditions. In this paper, a simple physical modeling approach is presented to calculate the rear side solar irradiation incident on the bifacial modules. For the rear side irradiance estimation, the maximum difference between the measured and calculated rear side irradiance value is approximately 10 W/m2. The model does not require high computational skills since it is neither focused on the view factor nor ray tracing methodologies but instead uses solar geometry. The yield of the module is also modeled, calculated, and compared with the measurements.
Highlights
Introduction to the methodologyThe model presented here is a modified version of a standard sky model, which is the isotropic diffuse model derived by Liu and Jordan[11]
The isotropic diffuse model assumes that all diffuse irradiation is isotropic, meaning that the intensity of diffuse irradiation is uniform over the skydome
The solar irradiation incident on the rear side of the bifacial PV module is calculated by modifying the Liu and Jordan’s isotropic sky model, as explained above
Summary
Introduction to the methodologyThe model presented here is a modified version of a standard sky model, which is the isotropic diffuse model derived by Liu and Jordan[11]. There are several models available to estimate the solar irradiation on a tilted PV module. When the angle of incidence of beam irradiation is greater than 90°, the Sun is behind the surface[9], meaning that the rear side of the bifacial module receives beam radiation as well.
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