East-west facing bifacial solar panels could boost solar power’s economic value and help stabilise electricity prices across the EU.
Large-scale deployment of innovative bifacial photovoltaic (PV) systems, oriented east and west instead of the conventional south-facing setup, could significantly help fix energy price swings, cut fossil fuel use, and strengthen Europe’s clean energy path, new research finds.
Traditional PV systems have been useful since their rise in the mid-2000s, but their rapid scale-up brought challenges too. Their south-facing orientation causes a midday power surge, leading to price swings that push down wholesale prices during peak production times. 
Deploying different types of PV systems, like the vertical bifacial PV panels, can help reduce fluctuation in solar power production and value and stabilise the energy market.
Addressing this issue of fluctuating solar power value with traditional PV panels, the study – led by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) – uses data on bifacial PV production in an hourly dispatch model that analyses energy systems in EU Member States and Balkan countries. These data are generated by the JRC’s Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS) and the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) laboratory. 
The model shows big differences in the current energy system performance (in terms of costs, price, and curtailments or reductions of energy output), resource and technology use, and CO₂ emissions. When innovative bifacial PV are incorporated in large scale to the solar setup, four main patterns emerge:
As bifacial PV panels capture sunlight from both sides, they are suited to be positioned vertically facing east and west. This seemingly simple change in orientation allows to shift peak solar production to morning and evening hours, helping smooth out the price swings.
Deploying vertical bifacial PV panels extends the production time of PV electricity to periods where it is more valuable to the consumers and easier to be dispatched. 
Bifacial module requires negligible added cost compared to usual PV modules (the back cover has to be replaced with a transparent one) and extends the range of PV applications to options that minimise land use changes and can produce electricity in a strikingly different pattern.
European policy makers and national governments need reliable scientific evidence to help inform their decisions. The study shows that with higher PV penetration, aligning more closely with key EU policy initiatives (EU Solar Energy Strategy, Green Deal, REPowerEU Plan), east-west faced vertical PV panels can play a favourable role to achieve a more balanced and more integrated power system in the EU by 2040. 
The JRC manages PVGIS, a user-friendly tool that allows citizens to find out how much electricity PV panels would generate where they live.
The new 5.3 version, which will be released this week during the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (PVSEC), features:
Explore PVGIS 
Available in five different languages (English, Italian, French, German and Spanish).
^[1] The results for floating PVs now provide energy production as if they were installed on land. Further research to keep into consideration specific offshore characteristics (temperature, irradiance, etc.) should be developed.
How PVGIS works 
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