Asymmetric Four-Terminal Solar Concentrator Improving Power Collection in Bifacial Solar Cells

Floriana Morabito, Daniela Fontani (), Paola Sansoni, Salvatore Lombardo, Andrea Farina and Silvia Maria Pietralunga
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Floriana Morabito: CNR-Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy
Daniela Fontani: CNR-National Institute of Optics, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy
Paola Sansoni: CNR-National Institute of Optics, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy
Salvatore Lombardo: CNR-Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems, Zona Industriale, Ottava Strada 5, 95121 Catania, Italy
Andrea Farina: CNR-Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy
Silvia Maria Pietralunga: CNR-Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: The exploitation of bifacial solar cells in photovoltaics aims to provide cost-effective solutions to maximize solar power collection on specific surfaces. A prerequisite for this is the effective collection of backscattered diffuse light from albedo, to which self-shading is an obstacle. We discuss the benefits of bifaciality for an asymmetric low-concentrating and spectral-splitting photovoltaic optics system that features a wedged right-prism geometry to address self-shading. The performance of the conceptual design is analyzed, using commercial ray-tracing software, for four different latitudes of installation, by assuming a standard solar AM1.5G spectrum as input. The daily Relative Optical Power Increase (ROPI) is evaluated with respect to standard flat bifacial configurations, reaching ROPI = 293% at a latitude of 25° north at winter solstice. The photocurrent and total Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) in a four-terminal (4T) configuration are estimated, assuming the operation of a commercial Si HJT bifacial cell and a commercial single-junction GaAs cell. A global increase in PCE of up to 23% is obtained with respect to the best-performing trackless standard bifacial configuration. From this perspective, the use of high-performance, high-bandgap solar cells in 4T configurations might further leverage the advantages of the optics proposed here.

Keywords: bifacial photovoltaics; optical simulation; spectral splitting; four-terminal; Power Conversion Efficiency; integrated photovoltaics (IPV) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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