IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v290y2021ics0306261921000428.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global analysis of next-generation utility-scale PV: Tracking bifacial solar farms

Author

Listed:
  • Patel, M. Tahir
  • Ahmed, M. Sojib
  • Imran, Hassan
  • Butt, Nauman Z.
  • Khan, M. Ryyan
  • Alam, Muhammad A.

Abstract

The bifacial gain of East-West vertical and South-facing optimally-tilted bifacial solar farms are well established. One wonders if bifacial gain and the associated levelized cost of energy (LCOE) may be further improved by tracking the sun. Tracking bifacial photovoltaics (PV) system has advantages of improved temperature sensitivity, enhanced diffuse and albedo light collection, flattened energy-output, and reduced soiling. Monofacial tracking already provides many of these advantages, therefore the relative merits of bifacial tracking are not obvious. In this paper, we use a detailed illumination and temperature-dependent bifacial solar farm model to show that bifacial tracking PV delivers up to 45% energy gain when compared to fixed-tilt bifacial PV near the equator, and ~10% bifacial energy gain over tracking monofacial farm with an albedo of 0.5. An optimum pitch further improves the gain of a tracking bifacial farm. Our results will broaden the scope and understanding of bifacial technology by demonstrating global trends in energy gain for worldwide deployment.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:290:y:2021:i:c:s0306261921000428
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116478
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261921000428
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116478?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Khan, M. Ryyan & Hanna, Amir & Sun, Xingshu & Alam, Muhammad A., 2017. "Vertical bifacial solar farms: Physics, design, and global optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 240-248.
    2. Chang, Tian Pau, 2009. "Performance study on the east–west oriented single-axis tracked panel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1530-1538.
    3. Caleb K. Miskin & Yiru Li & Allison Perna & Ryan G. Ellis & Elizabeth K. Grubbs & Peter Bermel & Rakesh Agrawal, 2019. "Sustainable co-production of food and solar power to relax land-use constraints," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(10), pages 972-980, October.
    4. Sun, Xingshu & Khan, Mohammad Ryyan & Deline, Chris & Alam, Muhammad Ashraful, 2018. "Optimization and performance of bifacial solar modules: A global perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1601-1610.
    5. 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).
    6. Gu, Wenbo & Ma, Tao & Li, Meng & Shen, Lu & Zhang, Yijie, 2020. "A coupled optical-electrical-thermal model of the bifacial photovoltaic module," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    7. Khan, M. Ryyan & Sakr, Enas & Sun, Xingshu & Bermel, Peter & Alam, Muhammad A., 2019. "Ground sculpting to enhance energy yield of vertical bifacial solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C), pages 592-598.
    8. Patel, M. Tahir & Khan, M. Ryyan & Sun, Xingshu & Alam, Muhammad A., 2019. "A worldwide cost-based design and optimization of tilted bifacial solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 467-479.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. Sun, Leihou & Bai, Jianbo & Pachauri, Rupendra Kumar & Wang, Shitao, 2024. "A horizontal single-axis tracking bracket with an adjustable tilt angle and its adaptive real-time tracking system for bifacial PV modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(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. Tao, Yunkun & Bai, Jianbo & Pachauri, Rupendra Kumar & Wang, Yue & Li, Jian & Attaher, Harouna Kerzika, 2021. "Parameterizing mismatch loss in bifacial photovoltaic modules with global deployment: A comprehensive study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    5. Tahir, Zamen & Butt, Nauman Zafar, 2022. "Implications of spatial-temporal shading in agrivoltaics under fixed tilt & tracking bifacial photovoltaic panels," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 167-176.
    6. Grubbs, E.K. & Gruss, S.M. & Schull, V.Z. & Gosney, M.J. & Mickelbart, M.V. & Brouder, S. & Gitau, M.W. & Bermel, P. & Tuinstra, M.R. & Agrawal, R., 2024. "Optimized agrivoltaic tracking for nearly-full commodity crop and energy production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. 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).
    8. Polo, Jesús & Alonso-Abella, Miguel & Marcos, Ana & Sanz-Saiz, Carlos & Martín-Chivelet, Nuria, 2024. "On the use of reference modules in characterizing the performance of bifacial modules for rooftop canopy applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    9. Shitao Wang & Yi Shen & Junbing Zhou & Caixia Li & Lijun Ma, 2022. "Efficiency Enhancement of Tilted Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules with Horizontal Single-Axis Tracker—The Bifacial Companion Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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).
    2. 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).
    3. 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).
    4. Tao, Yunkun & Bai, Jianbo & Pachauri, Rupendra Kumar & Wang, Yue & Li, Jian & Attaher, Harouna Kerzika, 2021. "Parameterizing mismatch loss in bifacial photovoltaic modules with global deployment: A comprehensive study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    5. 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).
    6. Preeti Kumari Sahu & J. N. Roy & Chandan Chakraborty & Senthilarasu Sundaram, 2021. "A New Model for Estimation of Energy Extraction from Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-16, August.
    7. Juhee Jang & Kyungsoo Lee, 2020. "Practical Performance Analysis of a Bifacial PV Module and System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-13, August.
    8. Usama Bin Qasim & Muhammad Hussnain Riaz & Hassan Imran, 2024. "Investigation of soiling effects for east/west vertical bifacial and north/south tilted monofacial photovoltaic farms," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(6), pages 2991-3009, September.
    9. Patel, M. Tahir & Khan, M. Ryyan & Sun, Xingshu & Alam, Muhammad A., 2019. "A worldwide cost-based design and optimization of tilted bifacial solar farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 467-479.
    10. Zhong, Jianmei & Zhang, Wei & Xie, Lingzhi & Zhao, Oufan & Wu, Xin & Zeng, Xiding & Guo, Jiahong, 2023. "Development and challenges of bifacial photovoltaic technology and application in buildings: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    11. Johnson, Joji & Manikandan, S., 2023. "Experimental study and model development of bifacial photovoltaic power plants for Indian climatic zones," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    12. 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).
    13. Zhu, Yongqiang & Liu, Jiahao & Yang, Xiaohua, 2020. "Design and performance analysis of a solar tracking system with a novel single-axis tracking structure to maximize energy collection," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    14. Polo, Jesús & Alonso-Abella, Miguel & Marcos, Ana & Sanz-Saiz, Carlos & Martín-Chivelet, Nuria, 2024. "On the use of reference modules in characterizing the performance of bifacial modules for rooftop canopy applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    15. Ma, Chao & Deng, Zexing & Xu, Ximeng & Pang, Xiulan & Li, Xiaofeng & Wu, Runze & Tian, Zhuojun, 2024. "Space optimization of utility-scale photovoltaic power plants considering the impact of inter-row shading," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 370(C).
    16. Rahimat O. Yakubu & Maame T. Ankoh & Lena D. Mensah & David A. Quansah & Muyiwa S. Adaramola, 2022. "Predicting the Potential Energy Yield of Bifacial Solar PV Systems in Low-Latitude Region," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-17, November.
    17. Zhang, Wei & Zhao, Oufan & Xie, Lingzhi & Li, Zihao & Wu, Xin & Zhong, Jianmei & Zeng, Xiding & Zou, Ruiwen, 2023. "Factors influence analysis and life cycle assessment of innovative bifacial photovoltaic applied on building facade," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    18. Shitao Wang & Yi Shen & Junbing Zhou & Caixia Li & Lijun Ma, 2022. "Efficiency Enhancement of Tilted Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules with Horizontal Single-Axis Tracker—The Bifacial Companion Method," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.
    19. Seung-Min Lee & Eui-Chan Lee & Jung-Hun Lee & Sun-Ho Yu & Jae-Sil Heo & Woo-Young Lee & Bong-Suck Kim, 2023. "Analysis of the Output Characteristics of a Vertical Photovoltaic System Based on Operational Data: A Case Study in Republic of Korea," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-14, October.
    20. Kyu-Won Hwang & Chul-Yong Lee, 2024. "Estimating the Deterministic and Stochastic Levelized Cost of the Energy of Fence-Type Agrivoltaics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-19, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:290:y:2021:i:c:s0306261921000428. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.