Solar Panel End of Life & Recyclability
By: Macy Zander
A question we often get from those curious about reducing their building’s carbon footprint is about solar panel recyclability. Solar energy itself is undoubtedly an environmental win, but what happens once a panel reaches its end of life?
Before we can address panel recyclability, it's important to understand the lifespan of solar PV. All the panels we use have a production warranty of twenty five years, with the average panel’s expected lifespan hoovering at thirty years. Once past the production warranty period, a panel’s production output stands at approximately 80%, meaning that by no means does a panel need to be removed once it hits 25 or even 30 years old. However, once you decide it's time to retire your array it’s important to do so in a responsible way; fortunately there is strong indication that the systems and regulations needed to ensure circularity of solar PV will only expand in the coming years.
At a high level solar panels are technically recyclable, however they first have to be broken down into their basic components, which can be a complex process. Solar panels have traditionally been recycled at general purpose glass recycling facilities, where the metal frames and glass parts are salvaged, but the remaining parts are disposed of or burned. Silicon can also be recovered, although it is not presently as cost effective as utilizing raw material. At the moment recyclers focused on solar PV find themselves constrained by the lack of supply of retired panels, however all signs point that as the market continues to grow, recycling will have an important part to play in the industry.
A 2016 study by the International Renewable Agency (IRENA) estimated that $15 billion could be recovered from recycling solar modules by the year 2050. While the market to recycle panels is fairly small right now, the financial incentive to recycle is anticipated to only increase in sync with the growth of the industry. Today the American solar recycling industry is nascent, but growing. There are promising developments emerging from recycling companies, panel manufacturers, and industry groups to get ahead of the problem before the first mainstream wave of PV, which leaped in popularity in the 2010s, reach their end of life.
From a regulatory perspective, we're already seeing momentum on this topic from the Washington State House and Senate that passed a bill in Spring 2020 that will update the State’s solar recycling policy. This bill will inform the final design and adoption of a comprehensive solar recycling program that is data-driven and considers the lifespan of modules. The California industry is actively working to expand regulations to ease the recycling process. The EU also has regulations in place through the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive to make sure solar panels are recycled at their end of life. If these areas can be seen as first movers, it seems reasonable to expect other states will follow suit eventually. At the moment in the Northeast recycling options are limited, but based on trends it is almost inevitable that will not be the case in the next decade, let alone in the next three decades.