Unique Solar Energy: Emerging Technologies and a Comparative Yield Analysis

Author

Bhoye Digambar Vitthal, Shruti Sunil Bunge, Dhanshri Shantaram Dhanwate

Abstract

Solar energy is the fastest-growing source of renewable electricity, yet conventional ground-mounted silicon photovoltaic (PV) plants are constrained by land availability, the efficiency ceiling of single-junction cells and temperature-related losses. This paper reviews six unique solar energy technologies that address these constraints: perovskite and tandem cells, bifacial modules with single-axis tracking, floating PV, agrivoltaics, building-integrated PV (BIPV) and the solar updraft tower. A transparent analytical yield model, built on plane-of-array irradiation, a cell-temperature loss model and gain factors taken from the literature, is then used to compare five 1 MWp plant configurations for a semi-arid Indian site. For an assumed irradiation of 5.7 kWh/m²/day, the baseline fixed-tilt plant yields about 1,680 kWh/kWp per year, whereas a bifacial plant with single-axis tracking yields about 2,177 kWh/kWp, a gain of 29.6%. Floating PV gives a modest 3.2% gain through lower cell temperature, and an elevated agrivoltaic layout trades about 3% of energy for dual land use. The results indicate that technology selection should be driven by site constraints and economics as much as by headline efficiency. Challenges and future scope are also discussed.

Keywords

agrivoltaics, bifacial modules, building-integrated photovoltaics, floating solar, perovskite solar cells, renewable energy.

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References

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