Characterization of Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules Based on I-V Curves Outdoor Measurement

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are well known for their simplicity of design, environmental friendliness, and low maintenance. Among the PV technologies, the behaviour of bifacial PV modules was studied in this research. Measurements of the I-V curves were carried out in the SolarTechLAB test facility at the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano, Italy, to detect the bifacial PV module behaviour, mainly in terms of power performance. In particular, I-V and power-voltage curves were measured at different tilt angles to consider several irradiance and cell temperature levels with both sides uncovered as well as with the back side covered. This last configuration was tested to evaluate the contribution of the rear face in the overall photoelectric conversion process. The comparison between the bifacial and monofacial operations highlighted that the power at the maximum power point of the bifacial operation can increase up to 13%. At the same time, leaving the rear face free allows for reducing the bifacial cell temperature up to about 6°C.