Bifacial Panels for the Same Price as Single Sided. Any Reason Not To Use Them on Semi Flat Roof?

blobert

Quick Question: I'm putting circa 30-40kw of panels on a low angled (circa 12-15 degree) south facing roof.

Roof is covered in darkish grey PVC with bars welded onto the roof to attach the rails/panels to (attached is a pic of roughly how it will look). The panels will be quite close to the roof and covering as much of the roof as possible (with a bit of space for access.

Now I've been offered Bifacial panels for the exact same price as single sided ones (the company has stock of them now as opposed to having to wait a month for them to make the single sided ones)

I'm imagining I'm likely to get very little benefit from the bifacial aspect of these (it's possible with the way they are angled that the top rows might get some afternoon sun from a different angle) but I assume there will be a slight benefit to them from a generation point of view.

What I'm wondering is is there any downside to them? Ie are they likely to last less long, be more likely to go wrong? I'd seen somthing about them possibly overheating if too close to a roof? The other thing is each panel is a few kg heavier which might make installation more awkward/add more weight to the roof.

Let me know what you think/if there's anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks

conor_mc

I'm no expert, but I think the main concern would be weight. Glass/glass bi-facials can even be more hard-wearing, I believe.

Is a paint job on the roof an option to increase reflectivity onto the underside of the panels - even if just around the edge of the arrays?

oaklands

double check that the rating of the BF panels do not include the extra performance due to BF….

originals panels may deliver more than the BF ones when there is no input from the BF feature???