Modeling, Simulation and Experimental Validation of Fixed and Tracking Bifacial Photovoltaic Systems
Abstract
There are considerable advancements in the photovoltaic (PV) industry, a promising alternative for the energy sector despite their low efficiency which necessitates thorough research. This is especially true for systems that incorporate the higher costs of tracking mechanisms used for increasing energy yields. This research aims to experimentally investigate the performances of fixed and tracking-based PV systems in Jordan by measuring and comparing them against the energy production of bifacial PV systems. This paper's method is to model and simulate the configurations and perform experimental validation of the selected systems which are fixed, single-axis and two-axis tracking. The models were simulated using the PVsyst simulation tool on which the models are calibrated and validated. The experimental results show a high energy yield in the two-axis tracking system, an improvement of 28.62% compared to the fixed system and 9.66% compared to the single-axis tracking system. The single axis tracking system also showed a 17.3% improvement in yield compared to the fixed system. The results show that the percentage error between the simulation and the experimental setups for the two-axis tracking, single-axis tracking, and fixed systems are 2.0%, 1.2% and 2.28% respectively. Thus, the developed models are applicable and can be generalized for similar climatic conditions.