Vermont’s largest solar canopy, Encore Renewable Energy’s 156kWp solar carport in Burlington, Vermont, has begun producing electricity at the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain.
The solar power system uses two-sided solar panels to capture direct sunlight and reflected light from nearby surfaces like the parking lot, the lake surface and parked vehicles.
The BiFacial solar panels have been purchased directly from Canadian Solar BiKu BiFacial. 5% of the electricity generated by the system’s panels comes from reflected light from the parking lot, parked vehicles and nearby lake surface, however manufacturers claim anywhere from 10%-30% depending on conditions.
The surface area which was used for the solar system was roughly 10,000 sq. feet of panels, throughout a ~27,000 sq. foot parking lot.
Bifacial solar panels are considered an emerging technology, gaining significant attention in the market but still considered innovative, with less long-term data to support projected production increases, which have been reported of up to 30%. Most experts / industry players report 5-7% gains.
Reference- Cleantechnica