Simulation of Bifacial and Monofacial Silicon Solar Cell Short-Circuit Current Density under Measured Spectro-Angular Solar Irradiance

In this article, we simulated the performance of bifacial and monofacial silicon heterojunction solar cells under measured spectro-angular solar irradiance. We developed a new set-up and procedure to measure spectro-angular irradiance over a wide range of orientations. Measurements were executed in Enschede, the Netherlands ($\{52^\circ \}\{23^\{\rm\{'\}\}\}\ $N,$\{\rm\{\ \}\}\{6^\circ \}\{85^\{\rm\{'\}\}\}\ $E). Using this measured multi-dimensional input irradiance along with SunSolve simulated external quantum efficiency for various cells, we determined the short-circuit current density of bifacial and monofacial silicon heterojunction solar cells. We conclude that monofacial cells perform marginally better than bifacial cells for front-side illumination (up to 3.0% more for direct sun) and bifacial cells perform significantly better than monofacial cells (higher output ranging from 20.1% to 68.1%), under diffuse irradiance. We compared our results with a well-monitored roof-top solar module set-up and found good agreement for clear sky days (accuracy 1.1%-8.5%).

California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of Twente

Shweta Pal and Angele Reinders and Rebecca Saive

IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

Bifacial cells,PV performance,diffuse irradiance,silicon solar cells,solar spectra,spectral and angular irradiance,spectro-angular irradiance

2020

11

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2020.3026141

21563403

6

1803-1815

IEEE Electron Devices Society

10