Performance comparison of bifacial and monofacial solar PV modules under varying albedo and climatic conditions across India

India’s rapid expansion of photovoltaic (PV) generation requires system-design approaches that account not only for solar-resource variability but also for climatic conditions, ground reflectance, environmental impacts, and economic performance. Although bifacial PV modules can increase energy generation by utilizing rear-side irradiance, their performance is strongly dependent on ground albedo and site-specific climatic conditions, and a consistent cross-climatic assessment integrating technical, environmental, and economic indicators remains limited. This study develops a harmonized comparative framework for monofacial and bifacial PV systems across five representative Indian climatic zones: hot-dry, warm-humid, composite, temperate, and cold. A standardized 6 kW grid-connected PV system was modelled in PVsyst using identical system geometry, inverter sizing, and loss assumptions, while five ground-surface conditions with different albedo values were evaluated. The analysis integrates energy generation, specific production, performance ratio, capacity factor, bifacial gain, lifecycle greenhouse-gas intensity, carbon payback time, levelized cost of electricity, payback period, net present value, and internal rate of return. The results show that bifacial gain increases approximately linearly with ground albedo, with each 0.10 increase in albedo producing about 2.6 percentage points additional bifacial gain. High-reflectance surfaces such as white paint and aluminium increase specific production and capacity factor by approximately 13–16% relative to concrete and reduce lifecycle greenhouse-gas intensity by about 20%. The highest annual generation of approximately 14.3 MWh and the shortest carbon payback time of 0.99 years are obtained for the high-albedo bifacial configuration at Leh. The economic assessment further indicates 4–7% reductions in levelized cost of electricity under favourable high-albedo conditions, together with improved payback and investment indicators. The findings demonstrate that ground-albedo engineering, when combined with climate-specific PV design, provides a practical and controllable pathway for improving the technical, environmental, and economic performance of bifacial PV systems in India.