Detailed illumination model for bifacial solar cells

Opt Express. 2020 Feb 17;28(4):4751-4762. doi: 10.1364/OE.383570.

Abstract

We present a detailed illumination model for bifacial photovoltaic modules in a large PV field. The model considers direct light and diffuse light from the sky and treats the illumination of the ground in detail, where it discriminates between illumination of the ground arising from diffuse and direct light. The model calculates the irradiance components on arbitrarily many positions along the module. This is relevant for finding the minimal irradiance, which determines the PV module performance for many PV modules. Finally, we discuss several examples. The code for the model is available online (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3543570).