Bifacial ASTM2848 Capacity Testing with Outboard Sensors

This paper presents a strategy for evaluating bifacial photovoltaic (PV) system power capacity while avoiding sensor placement within localized rear-side irradiance gradients by regressing power versus measurements from front plane-of-array sensors, outboard rear-facing sensors, ambient temperature and wind speed sensors. The expected readings for the outboard rear-facing sensor are not supplied directly by PVsyst, but can be computed based on existing PVsyst model outputs. The focus in this paper is on horizontal single-axis-tracking arrays, as these have more complex reference conditions preparation than fixed-tilt arrays.