Assessment of East-West (E-W) and South-North (S-N) facing Vertical Bifacial Photovoltaic Modules for Agrivoltaics and Dual-Land Use Applications in India

Deploying vertical bifacial PV modules can play a significant role in agrivoltaics, fencing walls, noise barriers, building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), solar PV for electric vehicles, and many other applications. This research work presents the performance comparison of vertical bifacial photovoltaic (VBPV) modules facing East-West (E-W) and South-North (S-N) directions. Also, the VBPV modules are compared with vertical and tilted south-facing monofacial PV modules. Six PV modules (monofacial and bifacial) were installed at the rooftop of IIT Bhilai academic building, Raipur (21.16° N, 81.65° E), India, and studied for a year from May 2022 to April 2023. The results show that the E-W facing VBPV module gives two production peaks, one in the morning and another in the evening, as compared to the single notable rise at midday observed for a monofacial module. From a series of experiments, 19 days of data were collected over the one-year period from May 2022 to April 2023, with specific inclusion of important days like solstices and equinoxes. In addition, the energy generation results are compared with PVsyst simulations, while also addressing the limitations of the PVsyst simulation of vertical PV modules. E-W bifacial generation is higher than S-N bifacial and south-facing monofacial modules from February to April. The VBPV modules in E-W and S-N orientations present a promising opportunity for expanding the agrivoltaics sector in tropical and sub-tropical countries, like India. This has huge implications for addressing the sustainable development goals by simultaneously contributing to sustainable land management, green energy generation, energy security and water conservation in the vast geo-climatic expanse of tropics.