Bifacial Modules on Australian Rooftops

Performance Evaluation of Bifacial Modules on Australian Rooftops

The scope of this project can be divided into two work packages

WP1: Proof-of-concept rooftop analysis: This analysis aims to automate detection of rooftop type and colour based on satellite imagery to estimate the distribution of rooftop reflectivity. This analysis will be demonstrated for a selected region (e.g. Canberra).

WP2: Estimate bifacial gain: For a selected light roof we will compute the yield of bifacial and monofacial silicon heterojunction modules in a fixed configuration.

If both work packages deliver positive and promising results, there is potential for a follow-up project. The scope of a follow-up project could include

• an Australian-wide rooftop analysis, including for example detection of fraction of roofs with already existing solar,
• acquiring spectral information of the major roof types to enable more detailed bifacial gain computations,
• compute bifacial gain for a range of locations, roof types, mounting configurations, and
• optimisation of module design (e.g. impact of cell gap on bifacial gain).

Funding

This project receives $50k funding from industry partner SunDrive Solar Pty Ltd, and $50.8k from ANU ACAP node.

Links

ANU project website

This work has recently been published in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells and in following publications listed below:

Reference	DOI / Download
M. Ernst, X. Liu, C.-A. Asselineau, D. Chen, C. Huang, and A. Lennon, "Accurate modelling of the bifacial gain potential of rooftop solar photovoltaic systems,", Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 300, p. 117947, 2024.	Open access https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2023.117947.

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Sat Jan 1, 2022