Description of Hosting Institution (UJA – Spain)

Jaén University (UJA) was created in 1993 and is in the Top 50 of the world’s best young universities according to THE (Times Higher Education). This ranking analyzes aspects such as teaching, research work, the university’s international outreach, or integration into industry. Besides, the UJA has received the distinction of Campus of International Excellence in the fields of Agrifood (CEIA3) and Climate Change (CamBio), plus it also leads the Andalusian CEI project on historical heritage PatrimoniUN10.

Jaén University has five faculties (Social and Legal Sciences; Humanities and Education Sciences; Health Sciences; Experimental Sciences and Social Work) and two higher polytechnic schools for engineering (Linares and Jaén). In turn, these centers are organized into 35 departments. It also has three Postgraduate educational centers (Doctorate School, Advanced Study Center in Modern Languages and Postgraduate Study Center).

In regards to its research, there are several specialized centers at Jaén University (https://www.ujaen.es/servicios/ofipi/uja-ri-expertise). Besides, the full picture of the over 100 UJA groups covers the following research fields of expertise: Agrifood (AGR); Biology (BIO); Health (CTS); Social Sciences, Business, Law (SEJ); Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics (FQM); Humanities (HUM); Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (RNM); Information and Communications Technology (TIC); and Engineering Production Technology (TEP).

As far this hosting offer is concerned, Prof. EMILIO MUÑOZ CERÓN would be willing to host post-doctoral researchers that are eventually funded through the MSCA-IF 2021 call for applications to be part of the following UJA research team: https://www.ujaen.es/servicios/ofipi/uja-ri-expertise/tep-101-research-development-solar-energy

Project description

Photovoltaic solar technology has found a new growth niche in BIFACIAL modules, both in terms of technological progress and at the commercial market level. According to the expected figures, it is estimated that the market share of bifacial modules will grow up to 60% of the whole PV market in the next 10 years. However, despite the current rate of manufacture and installation, several technical aspects have been identified that need to be further developed and improved in order for their consolidation to be sustainable:

• Characterization of the performance of the bifacial modules (and systems) through the achievement of the following objectives: a- Irradiance and Temperature performance measurements and power rating. b- Spectral responsivity, incidence angle, and module operating temperature. c- Calculation of Energy Rating of PV modules and complete systems. d- Standard Reference Climatic Profiles.
• Influence of the non-uniformity of the incident radiation on the rear side on the performance of the modules. Proposal for optimizing the connection of strings in photovoltaic bifacial plants.
• Procedure for the characterization of energy gains due to rear radiation (albedo) in large photovoltaic plants. - Improved modelling and simulation of expected energy production.
• Optimization of solar tracking systems and proposal of new typologies as well as optimization of bifacial PV plant design.
• Sensitivity analysis on bankability and LCOE of photovoltaic projects based on bifacial technology. The proposed project aims to target the questions identified above, using different measurement campaigns outdoors

Pre-application procedure

Interested applicants (PhD holders) should send their CV, Motivation letter and Summary of project proposal (250 words) to the UJA potential proposal supervisor (emunoz@ujaen.es) by the hosting offer deadline. Please, take into account that only candidates that meet the MSCA-IF 2021 application requirements according to the Funding & Tenders Portal (such as the so-called ‘mobility rule’) will be considered for proposal supervision.