Author: Leung, Chun Kuen
Title: Energy performance evaluation of bifacial solar photovoltaic modules in Hong Kong
Advisors: Lu, Lin (BEEE)
Degree: M.Sc.
Year: 2021
Subject: Photovoltaic power generation -- China -- Hong Kong
Photovoltaic power systems -- China -- Hong Kong
Solar energy -- China -- Hong Kong
Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations
Department: Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering
Pages: 80 pages : color illustrations
Language: English
Abstract: With the rapid population growth and continued rapid economic development, the climate issues have drawn the public's attention. Human activities are the leading causes of climate change. It is important to seek a way to achieve sustainable development with population, economy, society, resources, and environment all in harmony. The United Nations has emphasized some achievable global sustainable development goals to alleviate the problem of global warming. In Hong Kong, we cooperate with the promotion of sustainable development, such as banning idling vehicles with running engines, promoting the application of renewable energy, etc., to develop sustainable communities. The Hong Kong Government is not only a law enforcer in the global sustainable development, but also a role in publicizing and educating the public.
The goal of Hong Kong's energy policy is to minimize the impact of energy production on the environment, and to promote the efficient use and conservation of energy. Power generation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Hong Kong, while fossil fuels are the main fuel for power generation in Hong Kong. Coal and natural gas account for 53% and 22% of power generation respectively. In 2014, the government conducted a public consultation on Hong Kong's future fuel mix for power generation, and proposed plans to improve air quality and combat climate change, including increasing the use of natural gas and the application of renewable energy technology. Since 2005, the government will consider adopting renewable energy technology when designing its new buildings or conducting major modification projects in its existing buildings and encourage schools and other institutions to use renewable energy technologies in their buildings.
Hong Kong government is rapidly transitioning to a low carbon economy. One of the measures is to shift the electricity fuel mix towards renewable energy. In Hong Kong, it is not practical to launch the renewable energy programs and measures that may occupy substantial spaces such as wind energy and hydropower. Due to limited land resources, solar energy is the most viable renewable energy option for Hong Kong.
By 2030, Hong Kong government target to reduce 70% carbon intensity by phasing down coal power generation and promoting renewable energy. To meet the renewable energy goal, we should explore the opportunity of available land area for pv system, and also improve the pv system efficiency. With the increasing PV system capacity, In this context, improving power density of PV system is a critical step to further improve the renewable energy fuel mix in Hong Kong.
Regarding PV technology, bifacial PV is perceived to be an encouraging solar power generation technology that can absorb solar radiation from its front and rear sides to generate more electricity than monofacial PV module. Bifacial photovoltaic technology is considered as a promising technology especially for the countries with limited availability of land. The study was based on experimental results, together with the numerical simulation. The feature of bifacial solar photovoltaic (PV) module were compared with the traditional monofacial solar PV module.
The present work experimentally and numerically evaulate the energy performance of BPV module by comparing with MPV module. Outdoor field experiments and simulation has been firstly conducted in Hong Kong to evaluate the potential configuration in different tilt angle, mounting height and slope orientation. Both outdoor field measurement results and simulation result show that the average bifacial gain can reach 7.9% and 11.6% for roof top PV system facing south. If we adjust the installation orientations to east or west, the average BG can further increased to 167%.
Furthermore, results indicate that the BG would further increase with a larger tilt angle.
Rights: All rights reserved
Access: restricted access

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