From pv magazine USA
Even in non-traditional orientations, solar panels can provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly energy solution when strategically installed. This principle is currently being showcased by Spring Hill Greens, a Colorado-based farming operation nestled between two greenhouses. Their unique vertical bifacial solar panel system optimizes land use while potentially capitalizing on the high albedo effect of the highly reflective greenhouse materials.
The system’s design and installation were handled by Sandbox Solar. While they don’t yet have a tool to fully measure the albedo effect without a control vertical system, the company has commenced experiments to provide further insights into generation curves. Ian Skor, owner of Sandbox Solar, noted that production on snowy days is dramatically higher than any other installation. The project’s peak generation periods are at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., which Skor likened to a “reverse duck curve.”
To help design and simulate the generation curves of the facility prior to construction, Sandbox Solar employed their in-house software, SPADE Agrivoltaic.
Popular content
Preliminary data shows promising results. During the months of September through April, the vertical bifacial system produced 559.28 kWh/kWp. This performance surpasses that of a nearby east-west rooftop system owned by Spring Hill by 14%, which produced 489.93 kWh/kWp. However, it falls behind a south-facing ground mount project, also a Spring Hill property, which achieved an output of 857 kWh/kWp, by 34%.
Denver-based Greentech Renewable provided the hardware for the project, which includes Canadian Solar 445 W BiHiKu bifacial solar modules, SolarEdge 11.4 240V single-phase inverters, p505 rail mounted optimizers, and Tamarack bifacial vertical solar fence racking.
“My summary is that the system saves dramatically on footprint and can increase the number of usable project areas,” said Skor, acknowledging the customer’s initial desire to maximize land use. “The production during snowy days is dramatically higher than any other installation. This application may work extremely well in northern climates that experience significant snowfall.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
It seems that kwh/kwp may not be the right metric for this. Key to a vertical install like that is you are going to get lower install costs per kwp, if the dual sided modules come from the factory like that, and so can be simply installed as a unit. The metric you want to go for is more like kwh per fully installed dollar. A two sided panel will have course have twice the cost for the cells, but not twice the cost for the install, and of course, a tiny fraction of the land.
I agree Brad – would like to add a metric of kWh/year/acre of single use ground. The amount of kWh’s out of that tiny little space is great.
Not mentioned in the article… orientation of the panels? Pretty obviously South for typical angle installs, but for vertical panels and bifacials? Optimized for winter/snow production for higher latitudes where snow is a natural winter issue.