Title: Optimization and Performance of Bifacial Solar Modules: A Global Perspective,
Abstract: With the rapidly growing interest in bifacial photovoltaics (PV), a worldwide
map of their potential performance can help assess and accelerate the global
deployment of this emerging technology. However, the existing literature only
highlights optimized bifacial PV for a few geographic locations or develops
worldwide performance maps for very specific configurations, such as the
vertical installation. It is still difficult to translate these location- and
configuration-specific conclusions to a general optimized performance of this
technology. In this paper, we present a global study and optimization of
bifacial solar modules using a rigorous and comprehensive modeling framework.
Our results demonstrate that with a low albedo of 0.25, the bifacial gain of
ground-mounted bifacial modules is less than 10% worldwide. However, increasing
the albedo to 0.5 and elevating modules 1 m above the ground can boost the
bifacial gain to 30%. Moreover, we derive a set of empirical design rules,
which optimize bifacial solar modules across the world, that provide the
groundwork for rapid assessment of the location-specific performance. We find
that ground-mounted, vertical, east-west-facing bifacial modules will
outperform their south-north-facing, optimally tilted counterparts by up to 15%
below the latitude of 30 degrees, for an albedo of 0.5. The relative energy
output is the reverse of this in latitudes above 30 degrees. A detailed and
systematic comparison with experimental data from Asia, Europe, and North
America validates the model presented in this paper. An online simulation tool
(this https URL) based on the model developed in this paper is
also available for a user to predict and optimize bifacial modules in any
arbitrary location across the globe.