Power rating procedure of hybrid concentrator/flat‐plate photovoltaic bifacial modules

Abstract

Hybrid concentrator/flat‐plate photovoltaic (CPV/flat‐plate PV) technology combines III–V multi‐junction and flat‐plate bifacial solar cells to convert direct, diffuse and rear irradiance into electricity. For the first time, this article presents a procedure to rate the power output of such modules at standard test and standard operating conditions. The reference conditions, data filtering criteria, and translation methods are taken, and in some parts adapted, from the CPV, flat‐plate PV, and bifacial PV International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. The power rating is based on outdoor measurements performed on two hybrid modules (A = 1088 cm2) equipped with III–V triple‐ or four‐junction solar cells mounted on bifacial positively doped passivated emmiter rear contact (p‐PERC) c‐Si cells. The results show that the modules, named triple‐ and four‐junction EyeCon, convert the reference AM1.5g spectrum with an efficiency of 32.6% and 34.2%, respectively. This exceeds by 1.4%abs and 3%abs the highest value reported so far for a terrestrial module that harvests global irradiance. Additionally, the modules generate 11.5 and 10.9 W/m2 for every 100 W/m2 of rear irradiance to surpass an output of 350 W/m2. Finally, the influence of illumination mode, type of irradiance sensor, and filtering criteria were evaluated, and a simplified alternative with an acceptable power output underestimation of 0.5%rel is presented.

Revisiting the Definition of Solar Cell Generations

“…This improved usage of, e.g., diffuse or unabsorbed light constitutes a simple means of efficiency enhancement without high additional costs. Whereas bifacial modules are already governing the market, [26] there is currently only one entry in the efficiency tables (a four-junction/bifacial c-Si hybrid module with 34.2% efficiency [4,27] ), which however did not reach the performance record of the corresponding multi-junction device and was thus not included in our chart. Yet, it is very interesting to note that the concept of bifaciality is applicable to any generation of solar cells: Obviously, thin films solar cells are touched, which were defined here in relation to potential semitransparency, [28] but actually it is again c-Si that is dominating the market also in the bifacial form.…”

Optimal Design of Bifacial Floating Photovoltaic System With Different Installation Azimuths

“…The application of bifacial PV module has been limited because determining the nominal power for bifacial PV modules is difficult owing to the differences in the opinions of industry and academia on the impact of rear reflection [16] [17]. However, international standards for bifacial PV modules, such as IEC 60904-1-2, have been established [18] [19], and PV systems with bifacial PV modules are emerging. The bifacial PV module generates large amounts of power even in a low irradiation environment, such as immediately after sunrise, just before sunset, and under shading conditions because of its ability to absorb light from the rear [20].…”

Performance evaluation of IEC 60891:2021 procedures for correcting I–V curves of photovoltaic modules under healthy and faulty conditions

“…IEC 60891 (version 2009) 9 standard proposed three correction procedures, which have been widely applied for the correction of I – V curves measured from healthy or faulty PV devices 11,12 . For example, Procedure 1 of IEC 60891 (version 2009) is used to correct I – V curves measured under partial shading (PS), 13,14 hot spot, 15 dust soiling, 16,17 or for degradation analysis 18–20 or power rating 21 . Procedure 2 (version 2009) is employed to correct the key I – V curve parameters 4 .…”

“…11,12 For example, Procedure 1 of IEC 60891 (version 2009) is used to correct I-V curves measured under partial shading (PS), 13,14 hot spot, 15 dust soiling, 16,17 or for degradation analysis [18][19][20] or power rating. 21 Procedure 2 (version 2009) is employed to correct the key I-V curve parameters. 4 These corrected parameters could then be used as inputs to different tools 22 (e.g., artificial neural network, support vector machine, and decision tree) to classify the different defects.…”