Lifecycle Of Million Solar Panels Is Ending, But They Can Be Recycled And Used Again

Jun 03, 2023

As awareness about clean energy grows, solar power has seen its acceptance snowball in recent years, and it will only increase in the years and decades to come.

What makes solar panels attractive for many, especially individual households, is that once installed, their power needs for the next three decades are taken care of with it.

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That is because most solar panels have a 25 to 30 years lifespan.

But what happens to the solar panels after that? With the first generation of solar panels worldwide coming to the end of their three-decade lifecycle, scientists have been looking into how to deal with the 'solar waste'.

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This includes hazardous materials such as lead, cadmium, and other toxic chemicals that harm human health and the environment if not disposed of properly.

Solar panels may contain critical materials, including aluminium, tin, tellurium, and antimony, as well as gallium and indium in some thin-film modules.

Solar panels will contribute around 80 million metric tons of waste by 2050.

Luckily, most components that go into solar panel manufacturing can be recycled.

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According to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), 80 per cent of the components in solar modules, including the glass and metal frames, are recyclable.

Pilot initiatives around the world have shown that existing practices in the recycling of glass, metals, and electronics industries can accommodate solar panels and other solar power system components.

What makes it even more impressive is that the recovered silicon can be used to manufacture new solar cells or electronic components such as diodes, transistors, and microchips.

A recent study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi has proposed industrial solutions for effectively recycling solar cell components and materials.

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The findings, published in the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling, demonstrate that recycling these materials will significantly reduce the environmental impact compared to conventional mining and production practices.

In addition, recycling solar cell modules enables the recovery of valuable resources like cadmium, tellurium, indium, gallium, and germanium, which have limited reserves and are in high demand within the industry.

"Given that solar cell modules have a lifetime of about 30 years, the country will produce 4.4 to 7.5 million tonnes of solar cell waste by 2050. Solar panel trash may become the most prevalent kind of rubbish in landfills as early as 2030," Dr Satvasheel Ramesh Powar, Associate Professor, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, IIT Mandi, said.

"Addressing this environmental challenge hinges on understanding the various aspects of reuse, repurposing, recycling, and recovering valuable resources from solar cell wastes," Powar added.

In the study, the team discussed the life cycle assessment of crystalline silicon (c-Si) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV modules and presented a comprehensive analysis of their environmental impact and the benefits of recycling.

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They also compared the process of mining and refining glass, metals, and semiconductor materials from c-Si and CdTe PV modules to traditional mining and production methods.

In March this year, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had notified the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022, to include the management of solar PV modules, panels and cells.

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As per the rules, every manufacturer and producer of solar photovoltaic modules or panels or cells has to register on the portal set up by the government.

Manufacturers and producers should also store the waste generated up to the year 2034-2035 per the guidelines laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board.

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