Going to e-waste: Australia’s recycling failures and the challenge of solar

The first time Dr Pablo Dias set foot in an Australian recycling facility to see how the nation’s e-waste was processed he was struck by disappointment. Until that moment the now 31-year-old had romanticised Australia. As a young engineering student in Brazil he had been working to develop methods to safely recycle old photovoltaic (PV) solar cells but when he tried to take it outside the lab, he found himself hamstrung. “There was no advanced processing in Brazil,” Dias says…

Source : The Guardian

Sussan Ley Puts Australia’s Solar Panel Industry “On Notice”

In an address to the National Press Club yesterday, Federal Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley issued a warning to the solar panel industry regarding solar panel recycling.In a wide-ranging speech that included touching on her punk rocker background for some reason, Minister Ley threw down the gauntlet on the issue of recycling solar panels; putting the industry on notice with clear timelines for action. “The uptake of millions of solar panels across the country from roof tops to solar farms has been vital from an emissions perspective but the …

Source : Solar Quotes

Solar industry put on notice for “landfill nightmare” by federal environment minister

Federal environment minister Sussan Ley has used a National Press Club speech to issue a warning to Australia’s solar industry to get cracking on an industry-wide approach to recycling PV panels which, she said, loomed as “a landfill nightmare.” In a speech that ranged from the minister’s teen years in Canberra, when she was “proudly, the only punk rocker in Australia who actually would have voted for Margaret Thatcher,” to being “one of the more trolled politicians in the country,”

Source : Renew Economy

Solar panel recycling: Turning ticking time bombs into opportunities

With the average lifespan of a solar panel at roughly 20 years, installations from the early 2000s are set to reach end-of-life. Will they end up in landfill or be recycled? The cost of recycling is higher than landfill, and the value of recovered materials is smaller than the original, so there’s limited interest in recycling. But given the presence of heavy metals, if waste is managed poorly, we’re on track for another recycling crisis. The presence of hazardous materials in the end-of-life

Source : PV Magazine

The World's Massive Need For More Solar Panels Has One Shiny Catch

There's a major catch to the world's need for solar panels, a new analysis suggests. The booming solar panel market – which is critical for a clean energy future – could demand close to half the world's aluminum by 2050. Thankfully, there are ways we can mitigate this. Unlike more precious metals, such as the lithium and cobalt used in rechargeable batteries, the scarcity of aluminum is not the issue; in fact, it is the most abundant metal on Earth. But the production of

Source : Science Alert

Australia expects 100,000 tons of waste PV modules by 2035

Researchers at the University of South Australia are spearheading a national push to establish a stewardship scheme to manage the impacts of PV systems through their life cycle, as increasing numbers of decommissioned solar PV modules threaten a waste management nightmare. Australia continues to demonstrate its appetite for solar, with data provided by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) showing more than 2.66 million rooftop solar power systems had been installed across the nation by the end of 2020, with a collective

Source : PV Magazine

Cleaning up renewable energy

A University of South Australia researcher is helping establish a lifetime stewardship scheme to manage renewable energy waste from solar panels. Australia has the highest proportion of household photovoltaic (PV) systems in the world, with more than 21 per cent of homes – or around 2.59 million – now possessing a solar energy system. It is estimated more than 100,000 tonnes of solar panels will enter Australia’s national waste stream by 2035. Research Professor in Advanced Materials Peter Majewski is leading research at the 

Source : The Lead

Perfectly good solar panels are being dumped, and how New South Wales is putting an end to it

The New South Wales government has backed a trial that will rescue rooftop solar panels destined for landfill to keep generating energy in solar gardens. Rooftop solar arrays often fall victim to renovations or building demolitions that end the generating lifespan of these renewable energy assets prematurely. With no second hand market for these solar panels, they are sent straight to landfill, often well before they’ve reached their 30-year functional lifespan…

Source : Eco Business

Out of landfill, back in the stream

With technological progress, falling costs, and favorable subsidies all incentivizing Australian households to replace serviceable modules and upgrade their rooftop array, a stockpile of useable second-hand modules is mounting. But efforts to embrace reuse rather than refuse are taking shape. For a little over a decade Joe Amajouyi has been shipping second-hand solar PV panels from Australia to Nigeria. However, a 300% rise in freight costs triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic has forced him to put the export operation on hold. Amajouyi, owner of …

Source : PV Magazine

Renewable Energy Paradox: Solar Panels and Their Toxic Waste

Around the world, there is a massive push to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels for various reasons – chief among them the preservation of our home planet. Among the various strategies being developed, one tends to receive the most attention – renewable technologies, like solar panels.  Touted as being completely sustainable, such claims often gloss over – or worse, ignore – the very real damage caused through the production and use of this technology. Just like wind turbines, solar panels may have a darker side to their existence than most truly…

Source : Interesting Engineering

Stop removing your solar panels early—it's creating a huge waste problem for Australia

Installing solar panels is an easy way to lower your carbon footprint and cut electricity bills. But our recent research found there are many incentives to remove them prematurely, adding to Australia's massive waste problem. Researchers predict Australia will accumulate 1 million tons of solar panel waste by 2047—the same weight as 19 Sydney Harbor Bridges. But this number is likely to be higher, as we found people often choose to remove panels after just 10 to

Source : Tech Xplore

Australia's solar industry is booming, but so is the amount of valuable waste going to landfill

With more than two million Australian homes now with rooftop solar, industry proponents say the nation is on its way to a renewable future. But what if those same solar panels all end up in landfill? At the moment, there are no laws regulating the solar industry's waste, but experts have predicted there could be a whopping 1,500 kilotons of it by 2050. The Federal Government is now looking into whether they should set rules about how the industry deals with its waste.

Source : ABC News

Solar Panels Are Starting to Die, Leaving Behind Toxic Trash

Photovoltaic panels are a boon for clean energy but are tricky to recycle. As the oldest ones expire, get ready for a solar e-waste glut. Solar panels are an increasingly important source of renewable power that will play an essential role in fighting climate change. They are also complex pieces of technology that become big, bulky sheets of electronic waste at the end of their lives—and right now, most of the world doesn’t have a plan for dealing with that. But we’ll need to develop one soon, because the solar e-waste glut is coming…

Source : Wired

NBN Co Commits To 100% Renewable Electricity

The rapid transition to a low and eventually zero carbon economy is underway, and governments are increasingly acting on the global warming crisis. As policymakers fight for more ambitious targets, some of the Australia’s and the world’s largest corporates are already showing leadership by committing to 100% renewable electricity. This week NBN Co announced that they have joined RE100 and committed to 100% renewable electricity by December 2025 – making them the first Australian telecommunication company and government

Source : Energy Matters

Waste crisis looms as thousands of solar panels reach end of life

Thousands of ageing rooftop solar panels represent a toxic time-bomb and major economic waste unless Australia acts swiftly to keep them out of landfill, conservationists and recyclers say. Australia’s enthusiastic embrace of rooftop solar has brought clear environmental and economic benefits, but critics say governments have dragged their feet in addressing the looming waste crisis. As of December more than 2 million Australian households had rooftop solar installed. The uptake continues to grow due to the technology’s falling cost and

Source : The Sydney Morning Herald

Save our solar … the narrow road to economic PV recycling

To harvest the sun’s power you must maximise your exposure to it. Any tree will tell you that. It’s why they have broad canopies made up of thousands of flat receiving devices called “leaves”. Humans caught on to this as a great way to turn the sun’s rays into electricity and, as they always do, commercialised it. The photovoltaics industry thus spawned has since become a shining hope in humanity’s struggle against emissions produced by polluting forms of generation. But there is a problem. The panels manufactured in their billions to energise

Source : Ecogeneration

Dark Side To Solar? More Reports Tie Panel Production To Toxic Pollution

Three years ago I published a column at Forbes arguing that solar panels weren’t clean but in fact produced 300 times more toxic waste than high-level nuclear waste. But in contrast to nuclear waste, which is safely stored and never hurts anyone, solar panel waste risks exposing poor trash-pickers in sub-Saharan Africa. The reason was because it was so much cheaper to make new solar panels from raw materials than to recycle them, and would remain that way, given labor

Source : Forbes

This summer be prepared for hail damaged solar panels

Last year, a day after Halloween, I saw firsthand the result of the most hectic hailstorm I’ve ever endured. Springfield Lakes, Greenbank and a few surrounding Brisbane suburbs got absolutely smoked. It was reported in February that the damage bill had reached at least $805 million. More recent reports have estimated it to be over $1 billion. We are still getting calls to quote customers needing replacements for their existing solar systems which were damaged in the storm. There was a job we installed just nine months prior to the freak hailstorm, a

Source : PV Magazine

Solar Panels Are Tricky to Recycle

By 2050, the International Renewable Energy Agency projects that up to 78 million metric tons of solar panels will have reached the end of their life, and that the world will be generating about 6 million metric tons of new solar e-waste annually.Solar panels are composed of photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert sunlight to electricity. When they go to landfills, valuable resources go to waste. And because they are made with toxic materials like lead they can leach out and break down in landfills creating new environmental hazards.

Source : Waste 360

Australia won't pull its weight on climate change, despite a population embracing solar power

Australia has the highest per-capita use of rooftop solar power in the world and some of its states and territories are striding ahead with clean-energy initiatives, yet the federal government still keenly supports fossil fuels. So what’s up Down Under? On 11 October 2020, South Australia achieved a national milestone. For one hour, solar power provided 100 per cent of the state’s energy needs. ‘Never before has a jurisdiction the size of South Australia been completely run by solar

Source : Geographical

Australian solar module manufacturer sets sights on world stage

Australian module manufacturer Tindo Solar is confident it can compete with the world’s biggest manufacturers having received a financial fillip as part of the federal government’s $55 million Manufacturing Modernisation Fund. Australia’s only solar PV module manufacturer, Tindo Solar, has secured $1 million in federal government funding which will help it transition to new M10 cell technology and boost production capacity with a new $6 million state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Adelaide nearing completion. Tindo CEO Shayne Jaenisch said on Monday

Source : PV Magazine

Government to investigate e-waste recycling

“We need to recycle to save the planet and keep material out of landfill,” Greens MLA Jo Clay told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. She called on the ACT Government yesterday to investigate recycling arrangements for e-waste: electrical appliances, solar panels, and large batteries that power electric vehicles, buildings, and grids – new waste streams created by the transition from fossil fuels to cleantech.“We need to set up recycling schemes now,” Ms Clay said. “While there is still a relatively small amount of solar panels, big batteries, and

Source : Camberra Weekly

Reuse or replace? IEA PVPS analysis considers all options for underperfoming PV modules

In a new report, experts from the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power System Programme (IEA-PVPS) have assessed the economical and environmental benefits of repairing and reusing or replacing solar modules that are not complying with a 30-year expected lifetime. They found that reusing offers the best environmental impact in all cases, while the profitability of this option is

Source : PV Magazine

It’s not necessary to trash the environment to extract metals needed for renewable energy

The use of renewable energy systems, such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells, will minimize greenhouse gas emissions and reduce global warming. But use of these systems has to increase — and they require a lot of metal. The World Bank estimates that about three billion tonnes of metals like graphite, lithium and cobalt will be needed by 2050 to supply enough systems to keep the global temperature rise below 2 C, a goal of the 2016 Paris

Source : The Conversation

Solar panel recycling in the US — a looming issue that could harm industry growth and reputation

The solar industry cannot claim to be a clean energy source if it leaves a trail of hazardous waste. The solar industry cannot claim to be a clean energy source if it leaves a trail of hazardous waste. But, absent a cogent PV recycling policy, the U.S. risks sending millions of solar modules and tons of toxics to landfill in the coming years. A new initiative by Recycle PV Solar seeks to address this problem. The U.S. solar industry continued its torrid growth in 2020, driven by market-leading

Source : PV Magazine

Waste Management: Will Solar Photovoltaics Be the Next Plastic?

Towards meeting the outcomes of the Paris Agreement, India has committed to getting 40% of its electricity through renewable sources by 2030. The government has made great strides to achieve this target well before the stipulated time, as the country’s installed renewable energy installed capacity crossed the 40% mark in November 2021 itself. Solar energy leads India’s energy transition, with a whopping contribution of 100 GW. As of November 30,

Source : Science - The Wire

Where do solar panels go when they die?

Here’s the current situation globally: In the EU, producers are required to ensure their solar panels are recycled properly. In Japan, India, and Australia, they’re coming up with a recycling plan. And in the US, with the exception of a state law in Washington that requires manufacturers to recycle the panels, there is no plan.  (At least Senator Angus King (I-ME) introduced the Battery and Critical Mineral Recycling Act of 2020 in March. The bill aims, as it simply states, “to support the reuse and recycling of batteries and critical minerals, and for other purposes.”)

Source : Electrek

Sun Cable lodges plan for major solar module manufacturing plant

Sun Cable continues to progress plans for the world’s biggest solar+storage project, lodging a development application for the first phase of a solar module manufacturing and assembly facility to be constructed in Darwin. The Singaporean consortium behind the $26 billion Australia-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) announced this week it had lodged an application with the Northern Territory’s Development Consent Authority for a facility that will manufacture Maverick solar array systems designed by Australian company 5B. The

Source : PV Magazine

Silicon metal and aluminum industries hit by China power shortages

A combination of booming demand for coal-fired power and a shortage of the black stuff – exacerbated by a political row with Australia – have forced up prices to the extent fossil fuel generators are making a loss on every unit of electricity they produce. pv magazine‘s Vincent Shaw considers the potential solutions. The solar manufacturing supply chain is among the industries being affected by a combination of soaring power demand, coal shortages, and carbon emission reduction measures which have seen widespread electricity rationing in China. In 

Source : PV Magazine

More than 5,000 tons of modules collected for recycling in France

PV Cycle has said it collected more than 280,000 solar panels at the end of their lifecycle in France last year, including 200 tons from the nation’s overseas territories. Solar waste organization PV Cycle recycled more than 280,000 end-of-life photovoltaic panels in France last year. Around 95% of them, PV Cycle said, will be processed at the Triade Électronique factory in Rousset, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of southern France. The factory is operated by a unit of

Source : PV Magazine

Fortescue will be biggest customer of its proposed gigawatt scale solar factory

Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue iron ore and now green industry empire plans to be the biggest customer of the proposed gigawatt scale solar PV manufacturing plant that it intends to build in Queensland.The 1GW solar PV factory was announced as part of Fortescue Future Industry’s purchase of a majority stake in Dutch-based hydrogen and solar technology company HyET, and would signal a dramatic scaling up of the country’s green energy ambitions.Fortescue Metals

Source : Renew Economy

Solar trash: Without intervention, a shocking (and costly) amount will be produced

With deployments of solar on a steady rise, a plan is needed for the end of life of solar panels, or the world could see at least 78 million tons of waste by 2050, said IRENA. The growth of solar will be instrumental in the world’s fight against emission-caused climate change, but not all is rosy for the technology.  Without changes to the current structure of solar

Source : PV Magazine

Energy Matters New Rewards Program Offers Annual Savings over $5,000

Energy Matters, partnering with My Rewards International, have just launched their new Rewards Program, giving customers and their network of solar partners’ access to thousands of digital gift cards from brands they already know and love. Members will join an existing eco-system of over 4.5 million users and over 4500 retail partners growing by the day.

Source : Energy Matters

Experts call for mandatory recycling of products containing rare metals

Disc drives, circuit boards, fluorescent lamps and batteries for electric vehicles could be among affected products. Rare elements such as indium, yttrium, neodymium, cobalt and lithium are vital for the production of low-carbon technology, but many are being thrown away because of the lack of a requirement to recycle them, industry experts

Source : The Guardian

A mechanical technique for PV module recycling

An Italian consortium has developed a panel recycling process it claims can recover up to 99% of raw materials. The developers claim their technique takes only 40 seconds to fully recycle a standard panel, depending on size and recycling site conditions. Italian PV module recycling consortium La Mia Energia says the Photo Voltaic Panel Mobile Recycling Device (PV-MoReDe) it has developed can almost completely recover raw materials including furnace-ready glass, silicon, copper

Source : PV Magazine