Despite being hailed as a vital tool in reducing carbon emissions worldwide, solar panels have a limited lifespan of up to 25 years. Experts predict that billions of panels will eventually require disposal and replacement.
Dr. Rong Deng, an expert in solar panel recycling at the University of New South Wales in Australia, reveals that the world has already installed over one terawatt of solar capacity. Taking into account both rooftops and solar farms, the number of solar panels could reach a staggering 2.5 billion.
The UK government confirms that there are millions of solar panels in the country; however, there is a lack of specialized infrastructure for their recycling and disposal. This situation has prompted energy experts to call for immediate government intervention to avert an impending global environmental catastrophe.
Ute Collier, deputy director of the International Renewable Energy Agency, expresses concern, stating, "Unless we establish recycling systems now, we will face a mountain of waste by 2050." She emphasizes the need to address the issue of solar panel waste, considering the increasing production and installation of these panels.
A potential solution is on the horizon with the upcoming opening of the world's first solar panel recycling factory in France. Owned by ROSI, a dedicated solar recycling company, the facility in Grenoble aims to extract and reuse approximately 99% of a panel's components. This includes valuable materials like silver and copper, which are typically challenging to recover.
While current recycling methods manage to salvage most of the aluminum and glass from solar panels, ROSI argues that the quality of the glass obtained through these processes is relatively low. Such glass can find uses in creating tiles, sandblasting, and asphalt production, but it falls short for applications requiring high-grade glass, such as manufacturing new solar panels.
The opening of the ROSI plant coincides with a boom period for solar panel installations globally. Solar energy generation capacity grew by an impressive 22% in 2021 alone. In the UK, around 13,000 photovoltaic solar panels are fitted each month, predominantly on private house roofs. In some cases, panels become financially unviable before their expected lifespan ends, as new and more efficient designs emerge. Consequently, it becomes cost-effective to replace panels as young as 10 or 15 years old with updated versions.
Considering the current growth trends, Ute Collier warns that the volume of discarded solar panels could become immense. She projects that by 2030, there could be four million tonnes of scrap, which is still manageable. However, by 2050, the global figure could exceed 200 million tonnes, surpassing the annual production of plastic worldwide.
The scarcity of recycling facilities for solar panels can be attributed to the recent surge in waste volume. The first generation of domestic panels is only now reaching the end of its usable life, necessitating urgent action. France stands at the forefront of European countries in terms of photovoltaic waste processing, with Nicolas Defrenne of Soren, an organization collaborating with ROSI, leading the decommissioning efforts nationwide.
At the ROSI plant in Grenoble, the meticulous disassembly of solar panels takes place to recover valuable materials like copper, silicon, and silver. These precious materials are found in small quantities within each panel, intricately mixed with other components, making their extraction economically challenging. However, their significance makes efficient extraction a potential game-changer.
According to Mr. Defrenne, over 60% of the value lies in just 3% of the panel's weight. The Soren team envisions that nearly three-quarters of the materials required for producing new solar panels, including silver, can be recovered and recycled from retired panels. This would significantly accelerate the production of new panels, a critical factor considering the ongoing transition from fossil fuels. Mr. Defrenne highlights the silver shortage as a bottleneck in production.
Researchers at the University of Leicester in the UK have been exploring similar technology to ROSI. They have successfully developed a method involving saline extraction to retrieve silver from photovoltaic units. However, ROSI remains the sole company in the field that has scaled up operations to an industrial level.
Despite the potential, solar panel recycling remains in its infancy. Last year, Soren and its partners recycled under 4,000 tonnes of French solar panels. However, there is ample room for growth, and Mr. Defrenne is determined to make it his mission to expand recycling efforts.
Given that France witnessed the sale of 232,000 tonnes of new solar panels last year, Mr. Defrenne envisions the need to collect a comparable amount annually once these panels reach the end of their 20-year lifespan. He aims for France to become the global leader in solar panel recycling and technological advancements.
