Solar Panel Manufacturing Waste

Hazardous waste makes recycling solar panels necessary the question is when and how.

Solar panel manufacturing waste.

Panel manufacturer jinko solar for example has faced protests and legal action since one of its plants in the eastern province of zhejiang was accused of dumping toxic waste into a nearby river. As environmental journalist emily folk admits in renewable energy magazine when talking about renewable energy the topic of waste does. Solar panels generate 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than nuclear power plants. They also contain lead cadmium and other toxic even carcinogenic chemicals that cannot be removed without breaking apart the entire panel.

Worse rainwater can wash many of these toxics out of the fragments of solar modules over time. The international renewable energy agency irena in 2016 estimated there was about 250 000 metric tonnes of solar panel waste in the world at the end of that year. Based on installed capacity and power related weight we can estimate that by 2016 photovoltaics had spread about 11 000 tons of lead and about 800 tons of cadmium. More disconcerting however is the environmental impact of these chemicals.

Irena projected that this amount. Unscrupulous companies ship solar panel waste to developing nations but that is a stopgap solution that is environmentally irresponsible. If solar arrays aren t recycled they will end up in landfills and toxins in the panels could leach out. The problem of solar panel waste is now becoming evident.

Solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of electricity generated than nuclear power plants according to a thursday report from the pro nuclear group environmental progress ep. For any user of solar panels this is not an immediate risk as it only affects manufacturers and recyclers. Solar photovoltaic panels whose operating life is 20 to 30 years lose productivity over time. For recycling is that the cost far exceeds the revenue by nearly 10 to 1 especially when including transportation costs.

Tao meng lead author of a new study says the big blind spot in the u s. The international renewable energy agency estimated that there were about 250 000 metric tons of solar panel waste in the world at the end of 2016 and that the figure could reach 78 million metric tons by 2050.