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Circularity in solar stalled by costs

The solar industry is growing exponentially but with that growth comes an increased risk of environmental damage. Companies are starting to change their ways but halting that change comes at a cost

The level of waste from the solar industry is not yet at a level that makes recycling panels economic


TOUGH DESIGN
A 30-year design life means solar panels are often difficult to breakdown so the materials can be reused

SUPPLY ISSUES
Materials are at risk of becoming more scarce in light of geopolitical tensions and rising solar demand

KEY QUOTE
To get a recyclable PV panel, you need to change the production. Everybody is scared of that. It requires new technology


The expansion of solar energy generation is booming. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a market analysis firm, a total of 184 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaic capacity was installed in 2021—40 GW more than in 2020. In its simplest form, most photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are made by sandwiching glass and silicon together with glue, creating plates that are then mounted on an aluminium frame. Around 90% of all solar panels are made this way—with subtle differences depending on the manufacturer. This construction gives solar panels a life expectancy of over 30 years. Because of this relatively long life, the management of waste from solar panels is still in its infancy, explains Jens Mortensen from Marius Pedersen, a Danish recycling specialist firm. We are still looking at small amounts of waste. What’s coming in are from older private rooftop installations on houses. But soon we will begin to see an inflow of larger solar power projects and that might give us a challenge,” he says. For now, the recycling of PV panels remains a non-issue in Denmark, one of Europe’s earliest adopters of solar power but that might soon change. With the growth expected in the sector over the coming decades, mountains of waste will grow with it. According to a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the United States, by 2050, there could be 80 million tonnes globally of solar photovoltaics (PV) reaching the end of their lifetime. NRELs baseline scenario between now and mid-century suggests that 80% of PV modules will be in landfill, with just 1% reused and 10% recycled. With today’s material recovery rate, the recycled mass totals just 0.7 million metric tons through 2050, or approximately 8%,” the report authors said.

GOOD WASTE This incredible growth in waste might be a blessing in disguise as the sector, along with many other areas of the economy, turns its attention to the circularity of its products. By increasing the recyclability of solar panels, the sector can reduce the demand for new materials and the manufacturing process, cutting energy demand as well. According to Taylor Curtis at NREL, the biggest barrier when talking about circularity in the PV industry is scale and maturity. The markets are nascent for both reuse and recycling of PV equipment, as well as design for circularity,” she says. As solar panels begin to enter the waste cycle in Europe, in the US it is a different story. Curtis explains that 75% of all installed utility-scale photovoltaic capacity—around 60 GW as of 2020—came online in the last five years. This means that even though there is a growing volume of retired PV equipment, and we know there will be significant growth in the coming years, we have some time before this becomes a problem at scale,” she explains. Lykke Margot Ricard, a researcher from the University of Southern Denmark, sees a silver lining in the growing waste volume. High volume could mean big advantages. There is a great opportunity here for companies trying to get a sustainable business model out of circularity in this area. With a low volume of waste, extraction of materials from retired PVs just isn’t profitable,” she says. She also believes recycling regulations could be tailored better to push companies towards circularity. The EU requires 85% of photovoltaic panels needs to be recycled, but because that percentage is measured in weight, it is easily obtained by recycling the glass or aluminium frames leaving the other components in the lowest part of the waste hierarchy: material which is either crushed or put into landfill. It’s a chicken and the egg problem. Why is the material so hard to extract now? How do we get to 98% or higher? And how do we get that knowledge out to companies?” Lykke Margot Ricard asks.

WRONG INCENTIVES To many, solar power is seen as inherently environmentally friendly. But this also means that producers, installers, and legislators may have been sleeping on the issue of recycling and have failed to create a circular economy for photovoltaics. According to Ricard, companies have lacked the right incentives to build sustainability into the technology. To get a recyclable PV panel, you need to change the production. Everybody is scared of that. It requires new technology,” says Robin Hirschl from solar project developer Obton. Hirschl explains that the industry is not yet that concerned with circularity. Photovoltaics do not contain any poisonous materials and all the materials used to produce them are abundantly available. Circularity is rather on the lower end of the priority scale amongst ESG topics. In principle, we build our plants for eternity and when we replace modules, as we are currently doing in Italy, they are sold and re-used on the second-hand market. Hence the recycling of modules is not an issue for us,” he says.

WINDS OF CHANGE It is not that producers and energy companies do not want to introduce circularity, it is merely slow going. The mounts and cables of PV panels can easily be reused, Hirschl explains. For the panels themselves, the problem remains that solar panels are exposed to the elements. They need to be durable and weather-resistant, which requires the products to be tightly sealed and therefore hard to disassemble. Because of this, panels are almost impossible to take apart and end up being downcycled. Other components, like the inverters, are made to be maintenance-free and can only be replaced and not repaired. But, as Hirschl explains, there are new technologies on the horizon which could change these practices. One example is a project by The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. It has worked with three solar panel producers to create a design for recycling solar panels, which retains the 30-year lifespan but uses special adhesives which can be triggered to release—making disassembly easier. Other manufacturers are working on similar solutions. According to NRELs Curtis, things are moving in the right direction. I am encouraged to see such advancement in design for circularity for solar PV, but there is also a lot of money flowing to research and development for advancing designs for circularity for wind and batteries,” she says. This competition for development funds does not alter Curtis’s optimism. She mentions companies like Opes Solutions and First Solar which are focused on making lead-free panels and more easily recycled panels.

FOLLOW THE MONEY Ultimately, the growth of circularity within the sector depends on the impact on costs. In the US, NREL has discovered that the cost and accessibility of disposal are currently more favourable than recycling. There is no regulatory incentive to recycle, so cost is king. Cost of transport and processing for recycling is substantially more than disposal, the recovered value using current recycling technologies is much less than the cost to recycle,” says Curtis. Hirschl agrees that economics will continue to shape the future of the field. Although he is more worried about the cost of recyclable panels and their adaptation in an industry with no political demands. I’d assume the fully circular products will be more expensive. We see this already for inverters where closed one-time-use inverters are the cheapest. We are not moving very fast because it is not a priority. If politicians want us to move faster we need new rules,” he says. Ricard believes the issue might become more pressing soon. Even though silicon, the basic raw material in PV panels, is abundant, many other materials along the value chain might see shortages in the future. There is a window of opportunity right now. We’ve seen dwindling supplies of many materials during the Covid-19 pandemic, silicon wafers being one of them, and price hikes because of the war in Ukraine. Perhaps this is the time for politicians to find some courage and demand more circularity?” she suggests. One way could be to introduce more transparency: give consumers access to the production chain so they can choose PV suppliers with a focus on the environment. Another more direct way is for institutions like the EU to insist on changes. Currently, the use of lead soldering in PV panels is exempt from the EU lead-free directive that covers all other electronics. An exemption Ricard believes is both outdated and problematic. They’ve abandoned lead in car batteries because EU politicians regulated it. That should happen here too,” she says.

CHANGING MINDSETS Obton’s Hirschl remains bullish when it comes to how the solar sector will respond to the issue of circularity. We will have full circularity within five to seven years. [But] products need to be developed and tested, factories need to be adapted and the political boundary conditions established,” he explains. NRELs Curtis, meanwhile, is more hesitant to foretell the future but believes regulation is essential. I suspect that policy will be a big driver in advancing circularity and driving industry action and investment in this space,” she says. NREL has identified 62 policies in 16 different countries which all specifically address solar PV requirements for circularity, reuse and recycling. •


TEXT Søren Bjørn-Hansen