In this chapter, an optical, electrical and thermal model have been presented as the basic elements of a simulation model for the energy yield prediction of bifacial models and systems. Keeping in mind that for each of these models, several different concepts are viable and are under investigation by various research groups around the world, the model as published in [8] has been presented as an example. Thereby, an optical model for the rear side irradiance of bifacial PV modules, both stand-alone as well as in-field installed, has been established and after its implementation as a software tool, simulations of the energy yield for different scenarios have been conducted. Given appropriate weather data, simulations can be carried out for various locations. In combination with an electrical model, such tools allow for the estimation of the bifacial gain, i.e. the additional yield compared to a standard PV module, for various installation parameters, such as the tilt angle, installation height, distance between module rows and constant ground albedo coefficient.

Chapter Contents:

• 4.1 Introduction/motivation
• 4.2 Critical review of current status of bifacial simulations
• 4.3 Bifacial gain simulation model
• 4.3.1 Optical model
• 4.3.1.1 Definitions
• 4.3.1.2 Sun's position
• 4.3.1.3 Irradiances
• 4.3.1.4 View factors and the necessity of meshing
• 4.3.1.5 Calculation of the view factor
• 4.3.1.6 Ray tracing
• 4.3.2 Electrical model
• 4.3.2.1 Module power
• 4.3.2.2 Annual energy yield
• 4.3.2.3 Bifacial gain
• 4.4 Simulation results
• 4.4.1 South-facing stand-alone bifacial module
• 4.4.1.1 Module tilt angle and installation height
• 4.4.1.2 Diffuse irradiance factor
• 4.4.1.3 Date and time
• 4.4.2 East-west-facing stand-alone vertical bifacial module
• 4.4.3 Stand-alone bifacial module with horizontal single-axis tracking
• 4.4.4 Bifacial module field
• 4.4.4.1 Adjacent modules
• 4.4.4.2 Additional module rows
• 4.4.4.3 Bifacial module field
• 4.4.5 Result validation
• 4.4.5.1 Location and setup
• 4.4.5.2 Results
• 4.5 Tracking of bifacial modules and systems
• 4.6 Summary/outlook
• References

Inspec keywords: solar cell arrays; building integrated photovoltaics; power system simulation

Other keywords: energy yield prediction; electrical model; rear side irradiance; optical model; bifacial systems; constant ground albedo coefficient; bifacial PV modules; module rows; software tool; simulation models; thermal model

Subjects: Buildings (energy utilisation); Solar power stations and photovoltaic power systems; Solar cells and arrays; Photoelectric conversion; solar cells and arrays; Power engineering computing