Bifacial Photovoltaic Module Energy Yield Calculation and Analysis

Anew computationally-efficient algorithm has been developed for the evaluation of annual energy yields from bifacial photovoltaic panels. The model accounts for detailed anisotropic sky dome and albedo ray tracing with directional reflection, self-shading, and rack shading. The illumination profiles over both front and rear faces of bifacial and mono-facial panels provide realistic solar cell and panel performance calculations over various system configurations. Both landscape panel orientation and panel wiring with multiple parallel horizontal strings provide higher output powers, up to >3% for low ground clearances. Representative conditions for Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, resulted in up to 18% bifacial gain in annual energy yield, while instantaneous power production increased by 13-35% when sunny and 40-70% when cloudy.