Modeling of energy gain in bifacial vertical PV fences
Abstract
A quantitative model-based analysis was conducted to estimate the percentage output energy ratio of vertically installed bifacial PV modules in fences, cattle barriers, and roadsides compared to the output energy of two types of monofacial PV installations. The first comparison is between the output of the vertical bifacial PV fence and the output of the same fence furnished with vertically installed monofacial PV modules. The second comparison is between the output of the vertical bifacial fence and the output of south-facing monofacial PV modules installed at the optimal inclination angle for the particular latitude. The results show that bifacial fences can produce net yearly energy outputs up to 80% higher than those of monofacial PV modules. Additionally, vertical bifacial PV fences produce only a few percent lower energy compared to optimally installed monofacial PV modules. A MATLAB software program was written to calculate the gain of fences of any geometry, and it has been made freely available. Examples of gain results for a few such geometries are presented.
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