Title:	PV Bifacial Yield Simulation with a Variable Albedo Model
Author(s):	M. Chiodetti, A. Lindsay, P. Dupeyrat, D. Binesti, E. Lutun, K. Radouane, S. Mousel
Keywords:	Bifacial, Energy Performance, Modelling / Modeling
Topic:	Operation, Performance, Reliability and Sustainability of Photovoltaics
Subtopic:	Operation of PV Systems
Event:	32nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
Session:	5DP.1.4
Pages:	1449 - 1455
ISBN:	3-936338-41-8
Paper DOI:	10.4229/EUPVSEC20162016-5DP.1.4
Price:	0,00 EUR
Document(s):	paper

Abstract/Summary:

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Bifacial solar cells convert photons into electricity on both their front and rear sides, which makes the assessment of solar resource trickier than for classical solar cells that are active on their front side only. Among other parameters, the albedo around a bifacial installation has a major impact on the irradiation received on the rear side, and thus on the yield. For this reason, it is crucial to have an accurate characterization of the ground albedo for a bifacial system. While a constant and default albedo value is generally a reasonable approximation for the simulation of conventional PV, a more accurate albedo model is required in the case of bifacial PV. In this paper, experiments and simulations on albedo that have been carried out at several of EDF R&D’s research facilities are presented. It confirmed that the ground albedo is not constant as described in the majority of PV simulation systems, but varies throughout the days and the seasons. A simplified variable albedo model is proposed and has been tested with measurements on several surface types. It can be calibrated with only a small set of data and is easy to use. It has been integrated to our bifacial PV model developed in a Dymola simulation environment and used to compute rear side irradiations and yield estimations.