The Opportunities of Solar Panel Recycling

Written By: Nora Al-Hinai | Date: June 27, 2021

Amid the need for renewable energy sources to mitigate climate change, the uptake in solar energy is becoming more popular, however the imminent flood of decommissioned panels in the coming years will require the solar industry to go circular.

The surge in international solar power generation will represent a significant unexploited business opportunity as decommissioned solar panels (with an average useful lifetime of 25 years) enter the waste stream in the years ahead. The IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) predicts that by 2030, 1.7 million to 8 million tons of PV waste will be accumulated, and 60 million to 78 million tons by the 2050s (more than 8,500 times the weight of the Eiffel tower in Paris).

Is PV recycling possible? Yes it is! Recoverable materials include copper, gallium, indium, silver and silicon, while the other components such as metal framing, glass sheets, wires and plexiglass can be reused. If PV modules end up in landfills, toxic materials such as lead and cadmium will present health and environmental concerns. Moreover, putting panels into landfills misses the opportunity to reuse these materials, which could save the solar manufacturing industry (or other down-cycled-related industries) energy and material resources such as semiconductor grade silicon and aluminium.

However, the downside is: solar panels are not so easy to recycle! Photovoltaic module recycling involves mechanical, thermal (materials are treated at 500°C in a thermal processing unit to ease up the binding between the cell elements) and chemical processes, making it tedious and costly. The mixture of components such as stabilising aluminium framing, power-transmitting wires, protective glass sheets and polymeric membranes, as well as electricity-generating silicon wafers and other metals make it difficult to separate.

Raw materials are often cheaper than recovered ones. It should be noted that certain recycling processes may also consumes large amounts of energy and/or generate toxic emissions that are difficult to treat.

“With the right policies and enabling frameworks in place, new industries that recycle and repurpose old solar PV panels will drive considerable economic value creation and will be an important element in the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future,” IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin. Considering the high initial costs and low return on investments in recycling PV cells the current market is not very attractive to investors. Therefore, policies by governments are required to set up a robust recycling industry through laws, infrastructure, and knowledge sharing. Taking into account the successful example of the EU, which have adopted PV waste management policies in 2012 for developing greener PV products and making recycling more affordable and economically sustainable, including programs where producers are responsible for the take-back and recycling of the panels they sell.

The long-term success of the Solar PV recycling industry relies on successfully recovering the raw materials that produce solar modules through transparent policies and engagement of industry players. If the solar industry is to thrive on the reputation of being a green technology for the next few decades, it is time to begin thinking about the responsibility of ensuring modules stay out of the earth’s landfills.