154
Scientists invent double-sided solar panel that generates vastly more electricity
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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Technology
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Well, that's neat.
But where is that really relevant? Typical albedo of anything around a solar panel seems to be like around .2, meaning that these cells which have 23% efficiency on the front, and ~21% on the back.
Solar Irradiance is usually less than 7kWh/m²day.
So this Panel could get around 1.6kWh/m²day on the front and 0.3kwH/m²day on the back.
Isn't cost way more relevant than getting a few more % efficiency?
As long as "we" (as in humanity) can't afford to put solar panels on the top of every/most surfaces that we build, it seems that driving down the cost is more paramount.
Luckily that is happening too though
Bifaciality isn't new or limited to perovskite based PV. Ground reflection is also not the only source of indirect light.
This article is very bad, but bifacial panels are starting to dominate the industry for good reason. The backside gives a 5-20% boost in total annual yield (which is worth it on its own), but more importantly that boost is skewed towards times with low direct irradiance (such as cloudy days). This reduces the amount of storage required.
It also allows other orientations. Vertical installations have huge advantages including better compatibility with agrivoltaics, generation skewed towards times where low tilt panels don't produce (morning-evening for east-west and winter for north-south), better dual use, and lower racking cost. Glass-glass encapsulisation is also more durable and this alone pays for most of the added cost.
Thanks for the background. My panels are dual glass encapsulated but not bifacial -- not that I would be able to profit from it anyway.
I would hope that there's enough people on this so that different teams can develop solutions for different problems at the same time.