EXPLOITING HIGH SOLAR IRRADIATION IN ALPINE REGIONS USING BIFACIAL PV MODULES FIRST RESULTS OF BIFACIAL MODULE TECHNOLOGY IN ALPINE CONDITIONS FOR HIGH ENERGY YIELDS AND OUTLOOK FOR FURTHER BENEFITS FOR HIGH GRID PENETRATION

摘要

For a fast deployment of PV in Europe, well-suited regions have to be determined and developed for PV power plants. Alpine regions provide high solar irradiation within central Europe. Applying newest bifacial technology allows exploiting the high solar irradiation available in alpine regions and taking advantage of several additional benefits leading to a higher overall performance. First results of a bifacial test module operated and measured in pre-alpine regions in Switzerland show an additional gain of around 15% from the backside of bifacial PV modules compared to conventional PV modules, a gain of up to 27% during winter days with reflections of solar irradiation from snow on the ground, an increase of performance of about 10% due to temperature effects and an overall higher solar irradiation in alpine regions of up to 50% compared to lower regions in Switzerland. All these effects are complementary and not excluding. A higher share of power production during winter half year of up to 45% contributes to a reduced need of seasonal storage for high penetrations of PV but is not yet rated.