Citation :

Oscar Saul Umasi Mendigure, Wilson Jose Mamani Huanca, German Alberto Echaiz Espinoza, Wilson Omar Ramos Parqui, "Comparative Evaluation between Monofacial and Bifacial Modules under a Probabilistic Reliability Approach," International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 48-61, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488379/IJEEE-V13I5P105

Abstract

This study compares monofacial and bifacial photovoltaic modules in a 100 MWp power plant located in Tacna, Peru, using a probabilistic reliability approach. The methodology is based on Markov chains to represent the failure and repair behavior of system components, from the PV modules to the transformer, together with the construction of COPT tables to calculate the energy indices ISE, ESE, and Ae. For the analysis, hourly irradiance data over one year were considered, and in the case of bifacial modules, a variable gain throughout the day was adopted to capture the effect of reflected radiation. The results indicate that bifacial modules lead to higher energy indices compared to monofacial modules, with ISE increasing from 44,641,058.05 to 50,575,054.85 and ESE from 44,023,905.25 to 49,875,865.86, representing an increase of about 13.3%. However, when energy availability is evaluated, the monofacial system shows a higher value (Ae = 0.9858) compared to the bifacial system (Ae = 0.9321), indicating that a higher energy gain does not necessarily translate into higher final availability. In this sense, combining reliability modeling with energy performance analysis provides a more realistic assessment of the performance of large-scale photovoltaic power plants.

Keywords

Bifacial Photovoltaics, Copt, Diffuse Fraction, Monofacial Photovoltaics, Reliability.

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