Development of an Albedo Change Model for PV Modeling Applications

Christopher Pike1, Daniel Riley2, Laurie Burnham2 1University of Alaska Fairnanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States /2Sandia National Lab, Albuquerque, NM, United States

As solar photovoltaic technology is deployed in snowier and more northern locations and bifacial module use continues to increase, ground albedo from snow plays a significant role in the energy output of these systems.   Accurately knowing the ground albedo allows for more accurate production models. Here we use multiple years of measured snow and albedo data from 6 locations to develop a snow albedo change model that uses time and temperature as the major inputs.