This report offers a detailed overview of the latest best practices and innovations in the deployment of bifacial photovoltaic (PV) tracking systems. These systems, featuring bifacial PV modules mounted on adjustable racks that track the sun, have become the leading configuration for utility-scale PV installations worldwide.
Key Takeaways:
- Market Dominance: PV systems using bifacial modules and single-axis trackers currently dominate the utility-scale PV market in many regions of the world. However, there are still many technology-specific and site-specific factors that need to be investigated to optimize the performance of these PV tracking systems.
- Algorithm Transparency: Tracking companies avoid sharing details about how their specialized tracking algorithms work, making it difficult to evaluate their performance and assess whether they add sufficient value to the bifacial technology or to a particular project.
- Standardizing Weather Response: The ability of trackers to respond to rare, extreme weather conditions should be standardized, as there is a significant risk that a tracker will not respond appropriately to such an event, with potentially severe consequences.
- Improving Yield Prediction Models: Yield prediction (performance) models for bifacial tracked systems need to be improved. More high-quality, validated datasets are required for model developers to ensure that models are more consistent.
- Agrivoltaic System Challenges: A major challenge in using bifacial modules and trackers for PV agrivoltaic systems will be reducing design complexity and variations for such applications. This is necessary to take advantage of standardization, high-throughput manufacturing, and global supply chains to lower the costs.
Ulrike Jahn, Task 13 Manager, stated, “The combined benefits of the tracker and bifacial technology result in a convincing cost-performance ratio. This makes bifacial tracking systems the most cost-effective option in around 90% of regions worldwide.”
This new IEA PVPS Task 13 report is a vital resource for PV project developers, investors, and companies, providing comprehensive guidelines to design and build high-quality PV systems that ensure reliability and financial viability.
