Accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracing
Summary: Accurate modeling of bifacial illumination is critical to improve the prediction of the energy yield of bifacial solar systems. Monte Carlo ray tracing is the most powerful tool to accomplish this task. In this work, we accelerate Monte Carlo ray tracing of large solar systems by nearly 90%...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-01-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004221016680 |
| _version_ | 1818975901661003776 |
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| author | Marco Ernst Georgia E.J. Conechado Charles-Alexis Asselineau |
| author_facet | Marco Ernst Georgia E.J. Conechado Charles-Alexis Asselineau |
| author_sort | Marco Ernst |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Accurate modeling of bifacial illumination is critical to improve the prediction of the energy yield of bifacial solar systems. Monte Carlo ray tracing is the most powerful tool to accomplish this task. In this work, we accelerate Monte Carlo ray tracing of large solar systems by nearly 90%. Our model achieves root-mean-square error values of 7.9% and 37.2% for the front and rear irradiance compared against single-axis tracking field reference data, respectively. The rear irradiance modeling error decreases to 18.9% if suspected snow periods are excluded. Crucially, our full system simulations show that surrounding ground surfaces affect the rear irradiance deep into the system. Therefore, unit system simulations cannot necessarily ignore the influence of the perimeter of large installations to accurately estimate annual yield. Large-scale simulations involving high-performance supercomputing were necessary to investigate these effects accurately, calibrate our simplified models, and validate our results against experimental measurements. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T16:03:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8290b16fba2340bc8307637f1674b524 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T16:03:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-8290b16fba2340bc8307637f1674b5242022-12-21T19:34:13ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422022-01-01251103698Accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracingMarco Ernst0Georgia E.J. Conechado1Charles-Alexis Asselineau2The Australian National University, School of Engineering, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia; Corresponding authorThe Australian National University, School of Engineering, Canberra, ACT 2600, AustraliaThe Australian National University, School of Engineering, Canberra, ACT 2600, AustraliaSummary: Accurate modeling of bifacial illumination is critical to improve the prediction of the energy yield of bifacial solar systems. Monte Carlo ray tracing is the most powerful tool to accomplish this task. In this work, we accelerate Monte Carlo ray tracing of large solar systems by nearly 90%. Our model achieves root-mean-square error values of 7.9% and 37.2% for the front and rear irradiance compared against single-axis tracking field reference data, respectively. The rear irradiance modeling error decreases to 18.9% if suspected snow periods are excluded. Crucially, our full system simulations show that surrounding ground surfaces affect the rear irradiance deep into the system. Therefore, unit system simulations cannot necessarily ignore the influence of the perimeter of large installations to accurately estimate annual yield. Large-scale simulations involving high-performance supercomputing were necessary to investigate these effects accurately, calibrate our simplified models, and validate our results against experimental measurements.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004221016680Solar terrestrial physicsEngineering |
| spellingShingle | Marco Ernst Georgia E.J. Conechado Charles-Alexis Asselineau Accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracing iScience Solar terrestrial physics Engineering |
| title | Accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracing |
| title_full | Accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracing |
| title_fullStr | Accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracing |
| title_short | Accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracing |
| title_sort | accelerating the simulation of annual bifacial illumination of real photovoltaic systems with ray tracing |
| topic | Solar terrestrial physics Engineering |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004221016680 |
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