Glossary
Bifacial
A bifacial solar panel generates electricity from light reaching both its front and its back.
A standard (monofacial) panel collects light on its front only. A bifacial panel has a transparent back as well, so it also picks up light reflected from the ground or walls behind it. How much extra it produces depends on what’s behind it: a pale surface and open space help, while a panel fixed flat against a wall gains little.
Bifacial panels are most often suggested for vertical or raised mountings, such as on a fence, a railing or a garden frame, where the back can see open sky or bright ground. In England, the permitted development rules for plug-in solar exclude wooden fences, walls and other wooden means of enclosure (SI 2026/896).
Two points for plug-in buyers. First, the product specification caps the total DC power of the panels at 2,000 W (IPS §4.1); we haven’t found anything that says how any rear-side gain counts towards that cap. Second, our yield figures come from PVGIS for a standard front-facing panel, so treat any bifacial gain as a bonus rather than something to count on.