PV CYCLE divides PV waste hierarchy into 5 different steps - prevention, re-use, recycling, recovering, and landfilling
The expected deliverable date of the technical report about the reuse of PV panels - IEC TR 63525 ED1 - is H1 2025
The recycle yield rate of PV panels under today’s waste treatment activities is at 70%
The era of terawatt (TW)-level global PV installations, a major driver in addressing climate change, raises an important question about the sustainable recycling of end-of-life PV modules at the gigawatt (GW) scale. Rather than resorting to landfilling, extracting high-value materials such as copper, aluminum, silver, and others from recycled PV modules can contribute to creating a sustainable circular economy. However, the reuse of end-of-life PV modules can also be a valid proposition for the end customers, albeit with a significant drop in power and efficiency.
At the recent TaiyangNews Solar & Sustainability 2024 Conference, Jan Clyncke, Managing Director of PV CYCLE, shared a brief overview of the latest trends and activity in PV recycling (see PV CYCLE presentation here). Clyncke divided his presentation into several key topics: the material composition of PV panels, the waste hierarchy, waste prevention, the reuse of PV panels, and waste treatment.
According to Clyncke, silicon-based PV panels consist of the following materials: glass, aluminum, plastics, and metal & semiconductors. He further explained that when it comes to recycling and waste treatment, the focus is on the materials inside the PV modules – whether they are valuable, scarce, and available in sufficient quantity and quality. Following a PV panel's end of life, these are the key metrics that define the cost of treatment and profitability of the recovered materials of PV panels such as pure silicon, copper, or aluminum.
Clyncke benchmarked PV panel waste hierarchy as prevention of waste, reuse, recycling, recovering, and landfilling disposal – the most preferred option to the least preferred in order. Apart from landfilling, the other 4 steps are green, which can also be communicated in individual company’s ESG communications. In reuse, one uses a 2nd hand PV module, while recycling should only be done when it becomes waste, added Clyncke.
Speaking about the latest activity, Clyncke said PV CYCLE initiated the reuse of PV modules in 2021, triggered by its 2020 study. It drafted a technical report (TR) about the reuse of PV panels in the IEC WG82 standard. The reference of the TR report is the IEC TR 63525 ED1 – reuse of PV modules and circular economy, added Clyncke. The expected deliverable date of this standard, involving more than 30 global technical experts, is H1 2025. Following the publication of the TR report, the next step of the recycling industry should be to draft a global standard, a norm, or a technical specification for PV reuse.
The waste treatment process, or the PV recycling process, involves waste generation and collection followed by separation and sorting techniques such as eddy current, water bed, and infrared technology. The last step – recovery – can be of 3 different types including recovery of materials and energy, explained Clyncke. Although the volume of PV module recycled materials remains a challenge, the recycled yield rate of PV panels at 70% under today’s waste treatment activities is comparatively higher than other products under the EPR.
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