Shading Loss Mitigation in Advanced Bifacial Photovoltaic Systems for Improved Capacity Factor

Solar resources are inherently intermittent and can affect power system stability if the photovoltaic (PV) production reduces during critical (peak) hours. Shading on PV modules increases power losses, underscoring the need for effective PV system design to mitigate shading effects and enhance performance ratio and capacity factor. This paper evaluates the advanced bifacial module technologies and inverters with multiple Maximum Power Point Trackers (MPPTs) on shading performance, focusing on improving capacity factor and, in turn, resource resilience. Shading losses are categorized into module-specific and mismatch losses and a 12.29 kWp on-grid PV system is simulated for practical settings to evaluate system performance. The analysis compares stateof-the-art half-cut bifacial crystalline silicon (c-Si) and full-cell modules using single and dual MPPT inverter systems. The results show that half-cut cell technology with dual MPPT inverter has an overall shading loss of 15.89% compared to 20.69% for conventional single-MPPT full-cell modules. Based on the technology available and site constraints in various regions, the findings from this work will inform PV technology selection for achieving improved energy yield, capacity factor, and resource reliability in domestic power systems.