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Temperature-dependent energy gain of bifacial PV farms: A global perspective

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  • Patel, M. Tahir
  • Vijayan, Ramachandran A.
  • Asadpour, Reza
  • Varadharajaperumal, M.
  • Khan, M. Ryyan
  • Alam, Muhammad A.

Abstract

Bifacial solar panels are perceived to be the technology of choice for next-generation solar farms for their increased energy yield at a marginally increased cost. As the bifacial farms proliferate around the world, it is important to investigate the role of temperature-dependent energy-yield and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of bifacial solar farms relative to monofacial farms, stand-alone bifacial modules, and various competing bifacial technologies. In this work, we integrate existing irradiance and light collection models with experimentally validated physics-based temperature-dependent efficiency models to compare the energy yield and LCOE of various bifacial technologies across the world. We find that temperature-dependent efficiency changes the energy yield and LCOE by approximately -10to15%. Indeed, the results differ significantly depending on the location of the farm (defines the illumination and ambient temperature), the elevation of the module (increases light collection), as well as the temperature-coefficients of various bifacial technologies. The analysis presented in this paper will allow us to realistically assess location-specific relative advantage and economic viability of the next generation bifacial solar farms.

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  • Patel, M. Tahir & Vijayan, Ramachandran A. & Asadpour, Reza & Varadharajaperumal, M. & Khan, M. Ryyan & Alam, Muhammad A., 2020. "Temperature-dependent energy gain of bifacial PV farms: A global perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:276:y:2020:i:c:s030626192030917x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115405
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Patel, M. Tahir & Ahmed, M. Sojib & Imran, Hassan & Butt, Nauman Z. & Khan, M. Ryyan & Alam, Muhammad A., 2021. "Global analysis of next-generation utility-scale PV: Tracking bifacial solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    2. Patel, M. Tahir & Asadpour, Reza & Bin Jahangir, Jabir & Ryyan Khan, M. & Alam, Muhammad A., 2023. "Current-matching erases the anticipated performance gain of next-generation two-terminal Perovskite-Si tandem solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    3. Ganesan, K. & Winston, D. Prince & Nesamalar, J. Jeslin Drusila & Pravin, M., 2024. "Output power enhancement of a bifacial solar photovoltaic with upside down installation during module defects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).
    4. Marco Leonardi & Roberto Corso & Rachela G. Milazzo & Carmelo Connelli & Marina Foti & Cosimo Gerardi & Fabrizio Bizzarri & Stefania M. S. Privitera & Salvatore A. Lombardo, 2021. "The Effects of Module Temperature on the Energy Yield of Bifacial Photovoltaics: Data and Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    5. Jouttijärvi, Sami & Lobaccaro, Gabriele & Kamppinen, Aleksi & Miettunen, Kati, 2022. "Benefits of bifacial solar cells combined with low voltage power grids at high latitudes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    6. Sojib Ahmed, M. & Rezwan Khan, M. & Haque, Anisul & Ryyan Khan, M., 2022. "Agrivoltaics analysis in a techno-economic framework: Understanding why agrivoltaics on rice will always be profitable," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    7. Tina, Giuseppe Marco & Bontempo Scavo, Fausto & Merlo, Leonardo & Bizzarri, Fabrizio, 2021. "Comparative analysis of monofacial and bifacial photovoltaic modules for floating power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).

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