Yuma (United States) – As countries try to shift away from fossil fuels in the fight against climate change to renewable energy sources, new pollution challenges are emerging, such as disposing of solar panels that reach the end of their useful life.
Once a novelty, the installation of photovoltaic cells has become widespread in the United States, especially in the scorching western United States, where California is at the forefront of the industry.
But with an expected use of about 30 years, the first generation of panels is facing retirement, which began to raise questions about how to avoid massive solar cemeteries.
“What is about to happen is a tsunami of solar panels that will return to the supply chain,” says Adam Saghei, executive director of We Recycle Solar, one of the first companies dedicated to recycling and reusing these enormous and heavy plates.
The development of technology has also generated new and more effective models that, in addition to tax incentives, encourage consumers, residential and business, to update their panels by sending the old ones into solar limbo.
“One of the challenges with any industry is that there isn't much planning for a circular economy. (Solar) is a sustainable form of energy, so there needs to be a plan for the retirement of these assets.”
In fact, the reuse of panels is another important factor that opens space for companies like We Recycle Solar, explains Saghei.
Between 1 and 5% of the cells have factory defects or break during installation. Still operational, the panels can be reused and sold in other markets, maintains the executive director.
“These factors influence (the creation of) a company like ours that needs to fill this gap to take these goods, dismantle them and obtain raw materials, or obtain some of the reusable goods to send to underserved markets,” explains Saghei.
The rest, which has reached its operating ceiling, undergoes a review to enter the complex machinery that was specifically designed to recycle various types of sheets.
Robotic arms and belts separate the components and distribute them in containers in order to market them for other purposes such as sand traps, golf courses or the industrial sector itself.
“We do something called 'urban mining,'” Saghei explains, pointing to large volumes of glass and smaller amounts of silver, copper, aluminum and silicone.
“We take (components) out of current products and reintroduce them into the supply chain.”
The factory has the capacity to process 7,500 modules per day, and very little is wasted, says its executive director.
“Depending on the model and brand of the panels (…) we can achieve a recovery rate of up to 99%.”
Saghei estimates that within the framework of the United States' climate goals, some 500 million panels have been installed in the country.
“Logistics challenge”
For Meng Tao, a professor in the school of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University, recycling solar panels is as challenging as it is important, considering a long-term perspective.
With the United States among the countries that maintain among their climate goals the gradual abandonment of fossil fuels, the installation of solar panels should continue to increase in the coming decades.
“Once (the industry) matures, annual installation and removal will be more or less at the same level,” he tells AFP.
“But at least for the next ten years, we will see more installations than retirements.”
For Tao, recycling presents economic and logistical challenges. On the one hand, “the cost of recycling is far above the profit,” he says.
“It also implies a great logistical challenge because it is a typical case of reverse logistics,” he adds in reference to the complexity of moving consumer panels to eventual recycling centers.
The professor explains that unlike other countries, the United States imposes the cost and responsibility of discarding the panels on the consumer. “There has to be policy support,” he says.
Saghei agrees and insists that, from an economic point of view, profit is important.
“You don't see many getting into the business because recycling has a cost. It's not free, it requires work, and expenditure of energy.”
But he sees that there is a future. “These are markets that are growing within the renewable energy space.”
“We are seeing the first generation of solar panels being recycled,” adds Saghei as dozens of sheets are dismantled in intricate machinery. “And what's exciting is that we are ahead of the curve.”
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