Load Factor of Electrical Energy Production of Monofacial and Bifacial Photovoltaic System in Desert of Algeria

Abstract

This work contributes to the clarification through an assessment study with aim of showing the difference in electrical production between the monofacial photovoltaic system and bifacial photovoltaic system in Tamanrasset site, located in the desert south of Algeria as well as determining the electrical load factor to each day of the year of each system. The power of the photovoltaic field used in our simulation is estimated at 10 MW_p. In the electrical evaluation, it is based on four inclinations and orientation configuration of the photovoltaic modules, knowing that the photovoltaic systems consist of solar panels of the same electrical power, and the rest of the equipment are of the same type. The parameters of the field tilt angle are as follows: The first variant is composed of the monofacial module 400 W_p installed with tilt of 36°, and the second variant is composed of the bifacial module 400 W_p fixed with three different tilt angles (36°, 90°, and 90° east–west). The most important results of my study are as follows: The energy production of the first variant is 19202 MWh/year and the peak load factor is about 24.87% in February, the second variant is 19174 MWh/year and the peak load factor is about 24.83% in February, for the third variant, it is 10384MWh/year and the peak load factor is about 19.66% in December, and for the last variant is 10501 MWh/year and the peak load factor is about 13.54% in May. Finally, the results of this study showed that the load factor percentage is less than 25% for the four configurations.