pv magazine test: March 2022 Results
By George Touloupas
This article was originally published in pv magazine – May 2022 edition. Learn more about the pv magazine test here.
CEA’s Senior Director of Technology & Quality, George Touloupas, provides analysis of the latest batch of energy yield results from the outdoor test field in Xi’an, China.
The chart below (Figure 1) shows the meteo-station data (irradiance and ambient temperature) for March 2022. The average bifacial boost for the testing period is 7.0%. To clarify, bifacial boost is defined as the extra energy yield of the bifacial products compared to the average energy yield of all monofacial mono PERC products.
Figure 1: Daily temperature and irradiance data - March 2022
Figures 2 and 3 below compare different PV module technologies for March 2022. Bifacial modules are performing better than monofacial modules, and bifacial PERC leads over bifacial TopCON. [Read: LCOE of Monofacial vs Bifacial Modules: Are Bifacials Worth the Extra Cost?] Please note that our test field only has one sample from Jolywood in the “n-TOPCon” category and one sample from Znshine in the “multi” category.
Figure 2: Total energy yield - March 2022
Figure 3: Relative yield of different technologies - March 2022
Notes on energy yield:
The energy yield comparison among various technologies, including bifacial boost, will be analyzed using products installed after the beginning of 2019.
The energy yield is given in Wh/Wp and is calculated by dividing the energy produced by the module by the Pmax at STC of the module. This Pmax is the maximum STC power after a process of stabilization.
The results are grouped into categories, per module type.
The bifacial boost depends on many parameters: the bifaciality factor, the installation geometry, the albedo of the ground, and the sun angle and diffuse irradiance. The ground in this case is gray gravel.
Table 1: Bifacial boost - December 2021 to March 2022
Table 2: Energy yield ranking - December 2021 to March 2022
Test Cooperation
pv magazine test is a cooperative effort involving pv magazine, APsystems, CEA, and Gsolar. All testing procedures are carried out at Gsolar’s test laboratory in Xi’an, China. CEA supervises these tests and designed both the indoor and outdoor testing procedures.
