Abstract

Theoretical calculations of the photo-generated current density and outdoor measurements were performed for bifacial photovoltaic (PV) modules. The main idea was to find the potential of crystalline silicon (c-Si) based bifacial PV technology considering solar spectra in the Atacama Desert, Chile. An average air mass (AM) at noon for this location averaged 1.15 and the PV modules tilt angle was 18°. In order to compute the current density for a variety of glass-encapsulant combinations, the transmittance of glass-encapsulant-glass structures and the spectral response of the front as well as the rear side of the bifacial solar cell were measured. Integrating the product of the spectral irradiance, transmittance and spectral response, it came out that the thermoplastic material as encapsulant led to a gain in current obtained with Atacama AM1.15 compared to that with the reference AM1.5 spectrum. For a vertical installation and before noon, the current density was highest with the glass featured with antireflection coating combined with ethylene vinyl acetate. Conversely after noon, the glass with antireflection coating combined with the thermoplastic material as encapsulant led to the maximum current density.