Thanks to technological advancements, circular backsheets are now possible since these can be recycled thereby preventing harmful chemicals and materials being dumped into the landfills, said Commercial Manager and Sustainability Lead at the US backsheet company Endurans Solar, Imco Goudswaard.
Speaking at the TaiyangNews Virtual Conference on Solar and Sustainability, Goudswaard reflected on importance of sustainability in the field of solar PV backsheets.
He believes while the solar industry has a strong track record in material reduction, and offers longer lifetime for modules, there is still an enormous end-of-use value leakage which it can capture by recycling.
As a large number of solar modules are set to retire in a few years from now with newer ones being installed by the day, the industry must be careful about the kind of materials it uses, especially into the backsheets, he said.
Presenting the company's own backsheet based on polyolefin-based solution, Goudswaard claimed these are shown to bring down carbon emissions.
Endurans' HP co-extruded polyolefin-based backsheets are manufactured in a single-step and are affordable, he added. Since Endurans does not use fluoro-polymers and adhesives, instead deploys a mono-material design. What's important is for the industry to shift from weight to value driven recovery technologies.
While traditional backsheets are likely to end up in landfills with a 500 kton/year volume by 2050 without being recycled, he claimed the company's HP circular backsheets can be recycled using high efficiency pyrolysis method and then reused.
Highlighting the importance of considering carbon emissions in achieving circularity and reducing climate change impact, he stressed that sustainable backsheet material choices made today will have a big impact in 30 years.
Complete presentation of Goudswaard and those of others at the Solar & Sustainability conference are available on TaiyangNews YouTube Channel.