The State Government of Queensland has launched a pilot program to recycle thousands of solar modules from its residential, commercial and large-scale solar installations. Its AUD 2.5 million ($1.6 million) pilot will enable solar panels to be repurposed for parts, thus avoiding landfills.
Queensland had initially announced its solar panel recycling scheme in March 2023 when it launched a draft E-products Action Plan to reduce e-waste (see Australian State Bats For Solar Panel Recycling Scheme).
According to a 2023 Australian research paper, the country is expected to have about 80 million solar panels entering landfills 20 years down the line. A robust legislation is then the need of the hour to manage end-of-life panels (see Research Recommends End-Of-Life Legislation For PV Panels).
The AUD 2.5 million pilot is part of an AUD 5.5 million ($3.53 million) program through which Queensland aims to guide better practices in the renewable energy sector.
The remaining AUD 3 million ($1.9 million) will be allocated as Queensland Renewable Energy Industry Association grants to the Smart Energy Council (SEC), the Queensland Renewable Energy Council (QREC) and the Clean Energy Council (CEC). It will help build and advance industry leadership in recycling, career development and social license, said the state government. These efforts are also aimed at promoting local job opportunities in clean energy economy.
The recovery pilot will enable the development of a national product stewardship scheme to help identify gaps in the state's recovery and processing capacities. The SEC will manage the pilot.
Under the large-scale PV recycling pilot, SEC will ensure appropriate drop-off sites and distribution to source recovery, reuse and recycling facilities in the state. It will also entail the establishment of a Commercial and Industrial Solar Consultative Committee.
Queensland's Minister for Energy Mick de Brenni said, "With up to five locations in metro and regional Queensland set to host the pilot, we expect to see a significant uplift in opportunity to create new jobs in recovery and processing activities."
Queensland has the highest rooftop solar penetration in Australia. At the same time, it is also speeding up installation of large-scale solar farms as it targets to add 22 GW renewable energy capacity through renewable energy zones (see Queensland Ready With Renewable Energy Zone Roadmap).