Planet-Scale Energy Yield Potential of Next-Generation Bifacial, Multiterminal, Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Solar Farms

To continue reducing the levelized cost of solar energy, the photovoltaics (PV) industry is developing higher efficiency perovskite-based tandem solar cells. Among the various options, the two-terminal (2T) tandem has traditionally garnered the most interest and is expected to enter the market soon. However, the bifacial 2T perovskite-silicon (PVK-Si) tandem cell, constrained by current-matching requirements, would offer diminished energy gains in large-scale solar farms, especially when subjected to suboptimal albedo conditions. The 3/4T tandems obviate current matching and are expected to outperform 2T-tandem cells. However, the actual location-specific yield potential and relative gain of bifacial 3/4T tandems has not been reported in the literature. In this work, we use a novel end-to-end, multiscale simulation framework to carry out the first planet-scale simulation of single-axis-tracking solar farms employing bifacial PVK-Si 3/4T tandem in various ground albedo conditions. The analysis shows that the 3/4T cells offer up to 5% and 23% mean increase in annual energy yield compared with 2T-tandem and single-junction heterojunction solar cells in Earth's average albedo ( ${R}_A$ = 30%). Importantly, unlike the 2T tandem, the 3/4T tandem maintains its performance advantage across a wide range of albedo conditions, enabling flexible subcell design. The findings should encourage further research efforts aimed at tackling the recognized challenges associated with 3/4T technologies, such as minimizing optical losses and scaling up cell-to-module processes, to fully realize the potential of PVK-Si tandem technology.