Gustavo H. P. Santos;Samuel Silva;Givaldo Reis;André R. Mocelin;Roberto Zilles;Henry P. Viveros;Elmer P. T. Cari
{"title":"An Approach for Modeling, Simulation, and Parameter Estimation of Half-Cell Bifacial PV Modules","authors":"Gustavo H. P. Santos;Samuel Silva;Givaldo Reis;André R. Mocelin;Roberto Zilles;Henry P. Viveros;Elmer P. T. Cari","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2026.3653064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2026.3653064","url":null,"abstract":"Bifacial modules have gained prominence due to their ability to capture additional energy from rear-side irradiance. However, models and parameter estimation methods for bifacial modules remain limited largely due to varying interpretations of rear irradiance effects. An approach to address that issue is the standardization of models in line with the IEC TS 60904-1-2 standard. This study proposes a bifacial module model based on that standard featuring two current sources, each representing front and rear irradiances, and introduces bifaciality coefficient as a new parameter to be estimated. A conventional half-cell bifacial photovoltaic module with 655 W was tested in a solar simulator, and the resulting data were used for simulations and parameter estimation of the proposed model by a mean–variance mapping optimization algorithm. According to the results, the model can effectively estimate the parameters and represent the bifacial photovoltaic module comprehensively due to its low error rates and a strong fit to <inline-formula><tex-math>$I$</tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula><tex-math>$V$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math>$P$</tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula><tex-math>$V$</tex-math></inline-formula> curves. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis revealed the incorporation of the new parameter does not affect the identifiability of the model.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 2","pages":"217-224"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lifetime Prediction of TOPCon Modules Based on Accelerated Damp Heat Life Tests","authors":"Junwei Duan;Lixia Yang;Hao Jiang;Ruirui Lv;Tao Xu;Yuanjie Yu;Zhiliang Chen;Feihong Ye;Gang Wang;Rida Ahmed;Lixia Yang;Zhixiang Huang;Xingang Ren","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3645277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3645277","url":null,"abstract":"Tunnel oxide passivation contacts (TOPCon) solar cells have revealed a high-performance efficiency and become mainstream product in global photovoltaic (PV) market. Nevertheless, there are still concerns about the reliability and durability of TOPCon modules, particularly in damp and heat conditions. Current lifetime prediction models for TOPCon modules lack adaptability to complex environmental stressors and rapid degradation feedback, limiting their utility in guiding material selection and process optimization. To address this gap, we developed a robust accelerated aging model by combining an improved Peck model with a sigmoidal degradation function, which explicitly incorporates critical factors such as internal humidity and temperature within the module. The model incorporates a particle swarm optimization algorithm to calibrate activation energy and humidity sensitivity parameters, enabling precise simulation of degradation trajectories. Validated through a “fitting + testing” framework, the model demonstrates high accuracy (RMSE = 0.7%) in predicting power degradation under damp heat, highly accelerated stress test, and modified pressure cooker test conditions. The results of our designed accelerated aging tests reveal that DH-induced degradation primarily reduces fill factor due to finger corrosion, with minimal impact on Voc and Isc. Modules encapsulated with polyolefin elastomer exhibit superior corrosion resistance, achieving a projected service lifetime 23 years longer than EVA/EVA encapsulated in high-humidity regions like Hainan, China. This article bridges the critical gap in TOPCon module lifetime prediction under extreme environments and provides actionable insights for optimizing encapsulation materials and enhancing long-term reliability. The proposed model offers a scalable framework for industry stakeholders to evaluate module performance under site-specific climatic conditions, accelerating the development of durable PV technologies.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 2","pages":"232-241"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Defining Solar Farm Lifetime From Techno-economic Indicators","authors":"Shakil Hossain;M. Rezwan Khan;M. Ryyan Khan","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3647937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3647937","url":null,"abstract":"Photovoltaic (PV) system design and project viability are conventionally decided based on the assumptions: “end of life at 80% capacity” and “20–25 year system life.” These heuristic assumptions decouple the local financial context from long-term technical performance dynamics, obscuring the technoeconomic optimal in the decision aiding analyses. In this article, we present a technoeconomics driven framework to explain the project lifetime of PV farms. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) varies with the chosen project lifetime, and we show that there is an optimum operational life of the PV system where LCOE is minimum. We compare the fixed-rate degradation (FRD) model to a realistic degradation (RD) profile to quantify LCOE and optimal project lifetimes. FRD significantly overestimates the optimum lifetime. For a baseline system reaching 80% capacity in 25 years (“technical lifetime”), the FRD model predicts an unrealistic optimum life of 58 years, whereas the RD model yields 32 years at 2.5% interest rate and 2% inflation rate. We study the variation in optimum lifetimes for different interest/discount rates, inflation, and technical lifetime. While optimum lifetime increases as each of these parameters increase, LCOE only goes up with the economic rates. Our results indicate, in certain local conditions, it may be possible that the optimum is lower than the technical lifetime—i.e., it would then be better to set the system decommissioning date even before the warranty. By bridging realistic system performance with LCOE analysis to identify the year of minimum LCOE, our approach provides investors and policymakers with a robust metric to maximize financial returns and decide when to decommission.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 2","pages":"272-281"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Using Open-Source Forecasts for Solar Plant Maintenance Outage Scheduling Can Reduce Lost Energy","authors":"William B. Hobbs;Drumil Joshi","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3646334","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3646334","url":null,"abstract":"Solar plant operators have to schedule outages for periodic maintenance, where plants or subsets of plants are shut down. Outages can last many hours to several days and result in lost energy generation. Scheduling outages one or more days in advance may be required for staffing purposes and to provide adequate notification to grid operators. Because solar generation can vary from one day to the next, it is ideal for outage scheduling to be informed by the weather, with resulting generation that will or could occur on each day being considered for an outage. In this work, we demonstrate how forecasts made with open-source data and tools can improve maintenance outage scheduling relative to not using forecasts, reducing losses relative to perfect scheduling by more than half. Reference code to replicate this work, which is freely available, is also introduced.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 2","pages":"299-304"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11345810","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Linear Programming Approach to Backtracking for Single-Axis Trackers on Rolling Terrain","authors":"Kevin S. Anderson;Adam R. Jensen;Daniel M. Riley","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3645781","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3645781","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we present a computationally efficient method for determining optimal backtracking rotations for single-axis solar trackers on nonuniform terrain. The method allows for ganged tracking, mechanical rotation constraints, uneven row spacing, and arbitrary maximum allowable shaded fractions (to enable “fractional backtracking”). As with previous 2-D approaches, the method is suitable for terrain that varies in the transverse direction with respect to the rotation axis of the trackers. The novelty of the method lies in formulating the problem of shade avoidance as a linear problem, which is achieved by using the row interception width as the optimization variable instead of rotation angles. Formulating backtracking as a linear problem enables the use of extremely efficient linear programming algorithms, making the method highly scalable, requiring less than 1 min to compute optimal rotation schedules for hundreds of trackers. It also produces more effective backtracking rotations, reducing the frequency of shading by 4× and improving system energy output by 1%–2%.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 2","pages":"291-298"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11327451","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Performance Enhancement of Vertical Bifacial Photovoltaic Systems in Snowy Regions Using a Separated-String Configuration","authors":"S. Tsuchida;K. Misawa;S. Korikawa;N. Yamada","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3642809","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3642809","url":null,"abstract":"Vertical bifacial photovoltaic (VBPV) systems are promising for deployment in snowy regions, where sunlight reflected from snow-covered ground enhances rear-side irradiance. However, the low solar altitude during winter increases mutual shading between arrays, leading to mismatch losses. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a separated-string configuration—where the upper and lower module strings are electrically independent—in reducing shading losses under varying snow conditions, array spacings, and azimuth angles. Field measurements were conducted on an 80 kW<sub>DC</sub> (40 kW<sub>AC</sub>) agrivoltaic VBPV system installed in Hokkaido, Japan. The data were analyzed using simulations that integrate ray tracing and cell-level circuit modeling. Results indicate that increased ground albedo due to snow enhances winter electricity generation per unit solar irradiation by a factor of 1.7. However, for the tested system with a 10 m array spacing, the annual relative improvement achieved by the separated-string configuration was less than 1% due to the low occurrence of partial shading. Under simulated conditions with narrower 4 m array spacing and array azimuth angles of 150° and 180°, the relative improvement in winter exceeded 2.5%, reaching 3.7% and 9.2%, respectively. These findings suggest that the separated-string configuration is an effective design strategy primarily for VBPV systems with narrow array spacing in snowy, high-latitude regions characterized by high surface albedo.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 2","pages":"282-290"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jing-Wu Dong;Jyun-Guei Huang;Yu-Min Lin;Kuan-Wei Lee;Yu-Qian Ye;Che-Yu Lin
{"title":"Partial Shading Losses in Half-Cut PV Modules: Experiments, Circuit Simulation, and an Analytical Loss Function","authors":"Jing-Wu Dong;Jyun-Guei Huang;Yu-Min Lin;Kuan-Wei Lee;Yu-Qian Ye;Che-Yu Lin","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3642887","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3642887","url":null,"abstract":"This study establishes an integrated approach to quantify partial shading losses in commercial half-cut photovoltaic modules. Systematic indoor experiments were conducted on a 440 W c-Si half-cut module, providing current-voltage data under controlled shading. The data were used to calibrate a detailed LTspice circuit model. Further, an analytical loss function was developed to predict power losses as a function of shaded substring fraction and configuration. This analytical loss function was then refined through empirical fitting to the experimentally validated LTspice model, and it closely matches both the designed simulation conditions used for data fitting and independent representative shading scenarios. This framework offers a reliable and efficient tool for predicting shading losses in series-connected half-cut PV modules, facilitating more accurate system design and performance assessment.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 2","pages":"242-249"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146223817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Call for Papers for a Special Issue of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices on “Ultrawide Band Gap Semiconductor Device for RF, Power and Optoelectronic Applications”","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3642585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3642585","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"187-188"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11311579","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Information for Authors","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3642495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3642495","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"C3-C3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11311604","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}