A review of bifacial solar photovoltaic applications

Abstract

Bifacial photovoltaics (BPVs) are a promising alternative to conventional monofacial photovoltaics given their ability to exploit solar irradiance from both the front and rear sides of the panel, allowing for a higher amount of energy production per unit area. The BPV industry is still emerging, and there is much work to be done until it is a fully mature technology. There are a limited number of reviews of the BPV technology, and the reviews focus on different aspects of BPV. This review comprises an extensive in-depth look at BPV applications throughout all the current major applications, identifying studies conducted for each of the applications, and their outcomes, focusing on optimization for BPV systems under different applications, comparing levelized cost of electricity, integrating the use of BPV with existing systems such as green roofs, information on irradiance and electrical modeling, as well as providing future scope for research to improve the technology and help the industry.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

bifacial photovoltaics (BPVs) / bifacial / photovoltaics / applications / review / solar

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they no competing interests.

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Notations

a'	Sky geometry factor according to Perez model
ar	Angular loss coefficient
AM	Air mass
AMa	Absolute air mass
Am	Module azimuth angle/(° )
As	Sun azimuth angle/(° )
AOIf	Front side angle of incidence/(° )
b	Bifaciality factor
c'	Sky geometry factor according to Perez model
Cini,inv	Cost of initial investment/$
cins	Installation cost/$
cins,lab	Labor costs/$
cins,mat	Material costs/$
c_{\mathrm{i}\mathrm{v}\mathrm{t}}^{(0)}	Inverter cost/$
csp	Cost of solar panels/$
Cwar	Warranty extension cost/$
CFi	Configuration factor for ith segment
CFsky	Sky configuration factor
DNI	Direct normal irradiance/(W·m–2)
DR	Discount rate/%
E0	Extra-terrestrial normal irradiance/(W·m–2)
f1	Spectral irradiance contribution
F1	Coefficient expressing degree of circumsolar and horizon anisotropy
F2	Coefficient expressing degree of circumsolar and horizon anistropy
GHI	Global horizontal irradiance/(W·m–2)
GRIi	Ground reflected irradiance for ith segment
gvf	Ground view factor
hmg	Module height/m
HRI	Horizontal reflected irradiance/(W·m–2)
I	Current generated/A
I0	Reverse saturation current/A
Idiff,f	Front side diffuse irradiance/(W·m–2)
Idiff,r	Rear side diffuse irradiance/(W·m–2)
Idir,f	Front side direct irradiance/(W·m–2)
Idir,r	Rear side direct irradiance/(W·m–2)
If	Front side irradiance/(W·m–2)
Ignd,f	Front side ground reflected irradiance/(W·m–2)
Ignd,r	Rear side ground reflected irradiance/(W·m–2)
Iph(F+R)	Front + rear photogenerated current/A
Ir	Rear side irradiance/(W·m–2)
IR	Inflation rate/%
Jsc,front	Short circuit current density of front side/(mA·cm–2)
Jsc,rear	Short circuit current density of rear side/(mA·cm–2)
lm	Module length/m
lS	System lifetime/year
lS/wivt	Number of warranty extensions over lifetime
n	Diode ideality factor
Ns	Number of cells
PPV	PV power production/W
PSTC,f	Front side power production at STC/W
Rs	Series resistance/Ω
PSH	Shunt resistance/Ω
rlcir,f	Front side reflection loss for circumsolar component
rldir,f	Reflection loss for direct front side irradiance
rlhor,f	Front side reflection loss for horizontal contribution
rlsky,f	Front side reflection loss for sky contribution
svf	Sky view factor
Ta	Ambient air temperature/°C
Tc	Cell temperature/°C
TINOCT	PV panel installed normal operating temperature/°C
V	Voltage/V
Vt	Thermal voltage/V
xmount	Coefficient based on selected mounting structure
y	Age of panel/year
z	Sun zenith angle/(° )
a	Circumsolar half angle/rad
β0	Initial cell degradation/%
β1	Yearly degradation rate/(%·year–1)
γ	Power temperature coefficient/(%·°C–1)
ηsc,front	Front side efficiency/%
ηsc,rear	Rear side efficiency/%
θm	Module tilt angle/(° )
ρ	Ground albedo
ε'	Sky clearness
∆	Sky brightness
χc, χh, ψh, ψc	Intermediate parameters in Perez model

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