An experimental study on the impact of current injection on snow coverage of bifacial photovoltaic panel in outdoor conditions

Snow coverage of photovoltaic (PV) panels in location with heavy snowfall remains an obstacle to the development of solar power generation in such locations. Reducing the production losses due to snowfall by reducing the amount and duration of snow cover is key to the growth of PV in these environments with relatively low installed capacity. Typically, snow mitigation for PV is mechanical in nature with operators cleaning the panels manually or with specialized machinery. However, it has also been shown that we can use reverse bias current to heat up the solar cells to melt or shed the snow of the panels. Here, we propose a comprehensive study in Québec, a snowy environment that aims to assess the true impact of current injection on snow cover levels depending on meteorological conditions (ambient temperature, irradiance, snow depth) for a bifacial system. A programmable DC power supply will be used to control the current and voltage injected to the cells.