What happens to solar panels: disposal and recycling
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THE photovoltaic panels, i.e. those tools that allow you to convert sunlight into electricity, are among the main options when it comes to renewable energy and the transition to an economy independent of fossil fuels. However, their exponential development in recent years has begun to pose the problem of theirs disposal he was born in recycling of the materials that compose them.
According to estimates, in 2050 we will have 78 million tons of solar panels that have reached the end of their life cycle. In Italy, according to a study by Italia Solare, new panels were installed in the first half of 2022 for a total of 1GW of new power, corresponding to 71,951 new plants, i.e. a higher capacity than that achieved annually from 2014 to 2021.
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It is clear that, with these numbers, necessarily destined to grow, the issue of disposal and recycling will become increasingly urgent. The biggest problem, with regard to disposal, consists above all of the materials from which they are made and the way in which they are assembled together.
But what are photovoltaic panels made of and how long do they last?
The main components with which solar panels are built are essentially glass, silicon cells And metal structures. In turn, the silicon cells can be monocrystalline or polycrystalline.
There average life of a photovoltaic panel is about 20 yearsbut the new generation ones can guarantee a resistance of up to 25 years, even if with more or less important losses of efficiency, in the last years of activity.
The potential damage to the environment
L’environmental impact of solar panels is mainly related to their production. The latter, in fact, begins with the extraction of the siliconwhich derives from silica, in turn, composed of sand And quartz.
The current ones silicon production methods they have managed, fortunately, to reduce the carbon footprint on the environment by at least 12 times, however its release into the environment is still significant and cannot be ignored. Furthermore, at the end of their life, the photovoltaic panels release into the environment cadmium, lead, indium, molybdenum And telluriumfortunately, in low quantities to represent a real environmental risk, but which will increase with the multiplication of plants we are witnessing in recent times.
Are photovoltaic panels recyclable?
Given their composition and the ever increasing quantity produced, the recycling issue now becomes unavoidable.
The recycling process of photovoltaic panels is becoming increasingly advanced and effective, and allows the recovery of most of the raw materials of which they are made.
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To recycle the materials that make up the photovoltaic panels, it is first of all necessary to identify the forms that can still be used, take care of the extraction of the individual components, then of the raw materials that must be treated so that they can then be reused for other purposes.
From a common photovoltaic panel, weighing about 22 kg, it is possible to recover on average 0.1 kg of electrical boards, 0.2 kg of various metals, 1.7 kg of plastics, 2.8 kg of silicon, 2.9 kg of aluminum, and 13.8 kg of glass.
All materials that cannot be recovered, mainly plastics complex, are burned, and are those that obviously produce the greatest damage to the environment.
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“The market is in great turmoil. With the energy crisis, there is a race to install new photovoltaic fields but also to revamp pre-existing solar panels, in order to improve and enhance their energy production capacity. This makes the theme of increasingly topical disposal and waste”. He claims Michael Welcomeresponsible for managing the WEEE treatment plant in Sogliano Ambiente, one of the first disposal and recycling companies in Italy to have dealt with photovoltaic panels and to obtain the “End of Waste” certification on photovoltaic panel glass, i.e. a product so pure enough to be sold as raw material.
A potential source of income
It is estimated that already in 2030 the turnover around recycled materials from photovoltaic panels will be over 2.7 billion dollars and in 2050 the value will reach 80 billion. These are some of the data that emerged from a survey by Rystad Energy, a Norwegian consultancy firm that deals with energy and business intelligence.
Currently, the proceeds from the extraction of aluminum, copper, silver and polysilicon are equal to 170 million dollars.
“The global waste management market will grow by 6% annually to $530 billion by 2025. We expect that 2/3 of the market will have to switch from a linear to a circular model due to the regulation adopted (Green Deal in the EU and similar legislation in other countries) within the next 3 to 7 years”, he says Federica Savini, Consulting Team Leader Italy of Cyrkl, an innovative virtual marketplace, dedicated to companies, where it is possible to upload announcements relating to their waste, secondary raw materials, by-products and used materials. Cyrkl currently has 17,619 registered companies from 126 different countries, 1163 in Italy alone, with a growth rate of 1194% in the last year (according to Deloitte).
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“We have processed about 100 tons of photovoltaic panels, coming from all over Italy, and the flow is certainly destined to grow, reaching at least 2000/2500 tons per year. – he explains Michael Welcome by Sogliano Ambiente Spa – And the reasons are simple: the first photovoltaic parks are by now obsolete, unproductive and in themselves close to their definitive decommissioning. Furthermore, the installed power in Italian photovoltaic plants, around 22 GW at the end of 2021, continues to increase, generating an ever-increasing number of panels that are replaced annually because they are defective or damaged. Finally, the evolution of technology has led to greater efficiency of latest generation panels which, for the same surface area, are able to double or even triple the production of electricity compared to the more obsolete ones. This, in many cases, is encouraging the replacement of entire photovoltaic fields, now not very productive, with new, much more performing modules.”
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