Comparison and Optimization of Floating Bifacial and Monofacial Solar PV System in a Tropical Region

The installation of solar panels in the world has started to increase over the last few decades, due to the declining price of solar panels and on the other hands the electricity tariff from the utility grids is gradually rising. Monofacial crystalline solar panel is very common installed in tropical region especially in Indonesia, while the bifacial crystalline PV panel in our campus lake is still being tested for the first experience. This paper presents the comparison of two types of monofacial and bifacial PV performances, solar panels installed on the lake by using floating system infrastructure. The methods which are used in this research are actual experimental measurement and simulation with the PVSyst application software. Data obtained from actual measurement at the location of the floating solar panel installation was compared with the simulation results. This paper shows that the energy output delivered to the grid by BFSPV is greater by 6.75 percent than MFSPV for each string. The simulation results also show that the optimum tilt angle in the floating PV system is 8.3 degrees and rotation angle is 0 degree towards the north direction.