Simulation of Bifacial and Monofacial Silicon Solar Cell Short-Circuit Current Density Under Measured Spectro-Angular Solar Irradiance

In this article, we simulated the performance of bifacial and monofacial silicon heterojunction solar cells under measured spectro-angular solar irradiance. We developed a new setup and procedure to measure spectro-angular irradiance over a wide range of orientations. Measurements were executed in Enschede, the Netherlands (52°23' N, 6°85' E). Using this measured multi-dimensional input irradiance along with SunSolve simulated external quantum efficiency for various cells, we determined the short-circuit current density of bifacial and monofacial silicon heterojunction solar cells. We conclude that monofacial cells perform marginally better than bifacial cells for front-side illumination (up to 3.0% more for direct sun) and bifacial cells perform significantly better than monofacial cells (higher output ranging from 20.1% to 68.1%), under diffuse irradiance. We compared our results with a well-monitored roof-top solar module set-up and found good agreement for clear sky days (accuracy 1.1%-8.5%).