62. The effect of partial shading on the rear side of bifacial PV modules on output power

Abstract

Recently, bifacial photovoltaic (PV) is becoming the mainstream PV technology. Bifacial PV modules can generate power on both the front and rear sides of the module. The rear side of bifacial PV modules tend to be partially shaded by beams or supporting structures. In such cases, the output power of bifacial PV module may be reduced due to the partial shading on the rear side. Degree of this effect has not been studied in detail. This study aims to clarify it through ray-tracing simulations and experiments. The result reveals that partial shading by the beams reduces the bifacial gain by 20 ~ 60%. The result also shows that even if the beams are closely contacted with the rear surface of the module, the bifacial gain is about half that obtained without the beam.