Australian Funding Support For Solar Recycling Projects

• NSW has selected 5 projects to award AUD 7.4 million to support solar panel and battery recycling facilities
• PV Industries, Scipher Technologies, Blue Tribe, UNSW and Tes-AMM Australia will use the funding to help save more than 12,000 additional tons from going to landfills
• The state government says it has now exhausted the entire AUD 10 million amount committed to the Circular Solar Grants Program, having shelled out around AUD 2.1 million for under phase 1

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) has announced funding of close to AUD 7.4 million for the construction of solar panel and battery recycling facilities, estimating these will help save over 12,000 additional tons from ending up in landfills every year.

A total of 5 projects have secured the funding under phase 2 of its Circular Solar Grants program that's aimed at supporting initiatives that look into end-of-life management of solar panels and/or batteries within a circular economy framework.

• Among the winners of this round, PV Industries will use AUD 2.3 million to build a new solar panel and battery recycling facility in Bankstown area to process up to 8,000 tons annually.
• Scipher Technologies has been granted AUD 1.7 million to construct a solar panel recycling facility in Albury with a capacity to process up to 2,000 tons annually. Recovered materials will be sent back into local markets.
• A grant of around $400,000 will enable Blue Tribe to investigate a process to divert serviceable decommissioned solar panels from landfill or reuse in community solar gardens. It will be able to divert 10,000 tons per year of reusable end-of-life solar panels by 2030.
• The University of New South Wales (UNSW) will use its grant money of AUD 1 million to complete research and development activities for a prototype recycling technology to recover valuable metals, glass, and silicon from solar panels.
• Remaining AUD 1.9 million has been awarded to Tes-Amm Australia to construct a new lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Fairfield with an annual capacity to process up to 800 tons of lithium-ion batteries from solar panel systems.

"While the amount of solar panel and battery storage system waste is low at the moment, we want to make sure New South Wales is ahead of the curve with innovative ways of managing this emerging waste stream," said NSW Minister for Environment James Griffin. "With this funding, we're supporting the construction of the first 3 recycling facilities for solar panels or batteries in New South Wales, and 2 other projects that will divert more decommissioned solar panels from landfill so they can be reused."

The state expects to generate between 3,000 tons to 10,000 tons of waste from solar PV panels and battery storage systems by 2025, which will go up to 40,000 tons to 71,000 tons annually by 2035. Through Circular Solar Grants program, it intends to 'future-proof the management of this growing waste stream' while transitioning to renewable energy.

Both Blue Tribe and PV Industries were 2 of the 3 recipients of phase 1 of NSW's Circular Solar Grants Program in 2021. The 3^rd winner was KGM Services, trading as The Solar Professionals. Details of winners of phase 2 of the program are available on the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) website.

In the previous round, which was the trial phase, it awarded AUD 2.1 million for eligible projects. With the allocation of AUD 7.4 million, the EPA managed program has now exhausted all of its AUD 10 million funding amount.