Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

The Sustainable Energy Applied Research Centre (SEARC) at St. Lawrence College, and Solar Flow-Through Funds of Toronto, Ontario, have developed a research partnership to investigate bifacial solar photovoltaic panels for farm-scale applications. *Energy production from renewable energy resources has become an increasingly competitive marketplace, especially for solar energy producers. To remain competitive, solar energy producers are continuously evaluating new technologies, such as bifacial solar panels. Currently, there is a lack of suitable data necessary to create accurate forecasts for commercial-scale energy production when using bifacial panels in northern climates; the existing data does not fully consider locally relevant factors such as varying ground reflectivity over all four seasons (albedo) and snow shedding performance in the winter, and the resulting effect on power production. *Commercial-scale solar development organisations such as Solar Flow-Through Funds need accurate data on the power generated by bifacial panels. Furthermore, to remain competitive, the company needs to understand how to optimise their solar installations for bifacial panels to ensure their developments are financially viable. *Solar Flow-Through Funds with the assistance of the research team at SEARC in Kingston, Ontario will be investigating the difference between various types of bifacial panels and optimal racking arrangements to help the company ensure their developments continue to meet the needs of its clients and stakeholders. *For additional information about this project, please contact:*Ian Dick*Industry Liaison, Applied Research*(613) 544-5400 x 1459*