On the Yearly Performance of a Bifacial PV Module in Central Anatolia - Turkey

With the tremendous increase in the photovoltaic (PV) power plants world-wide remarkable decreases in their installation prices per watt are attained mainly due to economic scale effect. This brings questioning to increase their energy yields by considering any possible way like fabricating bifacial solar modules. Present study is on the performance analysis of a bifacial PV module using one-year outdoor testing results in Ankara-Turkey. The module performed very well and reached a specific yield value of 1750 kWh/kWp. This value for Central Anatolia region is well above the values predicted (and suggested) by the local authorities. The efficiency and performance ratio variation with respect to ambient and module temperature are obtained. The calculated dependence of efficiency on the module temperature is found to be η=-0.073Tmod+18.05, and the maximum measured module temperature is about 70 °C. The results show that the bifacial modules have the potential to replace the mono facial modules that are now dominating the PV market.