Coupled Multi-Physics Model for Simulating Thermal Behavior Electrical Yield and Structural Reliability of Monofacial and Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules Under Desert Environment

Crystalline silicon (c-Si) technology, including monofacial and bifacial, currently accounts for 96% of the total global annual PV production. In Qatar, the bifacial configuration is capable of producing up to 40% more electrical power compared to its monofacial counterpart, under the same field conditions. Owing to this huge chunk of share in the global market, accurate simulation tools are required to assess the overall performance of these PV systems. This overall performance is evaluated based on the total optical losses within the different layers of the PV module (via radiation modeling), the working temperature of the PV cells (via thermal modeling), the instantaneous electrical yield (via electrical modeling) and structural reliability (via structural modeling) of the PV module. As each of these models have a different physics, it makes the overall PV system modeling a multi-physics approach. The desert conditions, such as those prevalent in the Gulf region, are one of the worst-case scenarios for any PV module. Therefore, in this work, we have developed a fully coupled PV system model to evaluate the overall performance of the PV modules (for both monofacial and bifacial) in the field conditions encountered in Doha, Qatar.