Optimising effective albedo data for bifacial PV systems

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The renewable energy industry is in a boom of growth, both in installed energy generation capacity and in technological advances. One of the latest improvements to standard solar photovoltaic (PV) modules is bifacial PV (BFPV), which utilises the light that reflects from the ground onto the back of the panel to increase the energy yield. Depending on the ground conditions, this bifacial gain can help generate a further 5-20% of power compared with traditional PV modules. Bifacial PV projects have already started to become a significant portion of the total market share for installed solar PV, and this growth is not predicted to stop any time soon. However, the analysis that goes into predicting the energy yield of a BFPV system is subject to a low level of accuracy and this can lower the bankability of a project.?A key feature of BFPV analysis which can lead to this low level of accuracy is predicting the ratio of irradiation which reaches the back of the module, mainly derived from the ground albedo. The albedo is dependent on a number of site-specific parameters not limited to the time of the day, seasonal changes, and ground variation across a plot of land. This project follows from two successful rounds in the Analysis for Innovators scheme, where RINA and NPL partnered together to evaluate a more accurate albedo measure, varied satellite sources for initial estimations, and established ground-based measurement systems which can be deployed in real solar PV sites. These results showed that this analysis can decrease the risks of a BFPV project, but there is still significant room for improvement.?During Round 7, RINA and NPL will partner together to create new methodologies which can deliver bifacial gain estimations with the highest accuracy possible. This will be done by investigating the following key objectives:?* Analysing newer satellite databases capable of higher spatial resolution;?* Experimenting with new on-site equipment to approximate effective albedo;?* Find a suitable combination of techniques which can accurately estimate ground albedo and bifacial gain;* Share results with the wider BFPV industry and contribute to state-of-the-art industry standards.?Our hope is that this knowledge will contribute towards reducing the technical and financial risks of investors for new BFPV plants, consequently boosting investments. This will inevitably help push the UK closer towards its goal of reducing deducing its CO2 emissions and the country's environmental impact.