Predicting the Potential Energy Yield of Bifacial Solar PV Systems in Low-Latitude Region

Abstract

The validation of the potential energy yield of bifacial PV systems of various configurations at low latitudes under West African climatic conditions is critical for evaluating performance and for promoting market expansion of the technology since validation has mostly occurred in high-latitude regions. In this paper, the potential energy yield from an inclined south-facing bifacial PV module and a vertically mounted east–west bifacial PV module are compared to an inclined south-facing monofacial PV module using an analytical model, field-measured data, and simulations. For measured/modelled and PVsyst/modelled monofacial systems, the model predicts RMSE values of 1.49 and 9.02, respectively. An inclined bifacial PV system has RMSEs of 1.88 and 7.97 for measured/modelled and PVsyst/modelled, respectively, and a vertically installed system has RMSEs of 10.03 for measured/modelled and 3.76 for PVsyst/modelled. Monthly energy yield is predicted by the model, with deviations from measured data ranging from 0.08% to 1.41% for monofacial systems, from 0.05% to 4.06% for inclined bifacial systems, and from 4.63% to 9.61% for vertical bifacial systems. The average bifacial gains from the modelled, measured, and simulated data of an inclined south-facing stand-alone bifacial PV system over an inclined south-facing stand-alone monofacial system are 9.05%, 10.15%, and 5.65%. Finally, at 0.25 albedo, the inclined monofacial PV system outperforms and yields more energy than the vertically installed bifacial PV system.

Optimal Inclination and Azimuth Angles of a Photovoltaic Module With Load Patterns for Improved Power System Stability

“…In (11), VF stands for view factor and Alb represents the albedo of the ground surface [19]. The measured albedo at the location where the experiment took place yielded a value of 0.08.…”

“…Therefore, it is thought that applying these characteristics to the electricity usage patterns according to the industrial structure of each city can help in the stable operation of transmission lines. Recent research has included studies on the predicting power generation amount of east-west oriented and south-facing PV modules using bifacial modules [11], and research on the optimal inclination angles and directions considering the latitude and longitude of the installation site [12]. In this study, not only for PV power plants installed in an east-west orientation but also considering the electricity usage patterns of consumers, the optimal PV module inclination angle and orientation that can improve electrical stability are presented.…”

Electrical power output potential of different solar photovoltaic systems in Tanzania

“…The outputs were PV array energy production, performance ratios, normalized power production and PV energy losses. The software has been extensively used and validated by different researchers for PV power output simulation studies (Westbrook and Collins, 2013;Gurupira and Rix, 2017;Sadeq and Abdellatif, 2021;Jagadale et al, 2022;Milosavljević et al, 2022;Yakubu et al, 2022;PVsyst, 2023).…”

Evaluation of the electrical parameters and performance of floating PV generators

“…Compared to ground PV generation, the power output increased about 7.9%, and compared to conventional FPVS, the increase was about 3.3%. A comparison between ground and floating PV systems, for monofacial and bifacial modules, was developed by Yakubu et al [13]. The bifacial gain of ground PV systems and FPVS was, respectively, 2.51% and 4.57%.…”