BEYOND WASTE - THE FATE OF END-OF-LIFE PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS FROM LARGE SCALE PV INSTALLATIONS IN THE EU THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF HIGH VALUE RECYCLING COMPARED TO RE-USE

摘要

This case study investigates the economics of potential re-use, (informal) recycling and (illegal) disposal scenarios for end-of-life (EoL)1 photovoltaic panels from large-scale photovoltaic systems2 and compares these with the economics and socio-economic impacts of high value recycling. Stakeholders have raised concerns, that (illegal) shipments of end-of-life photovoltaic panels ('PV waste trafficking'), be it for re-use, (informal) recycling or (illegal) disposal from today's major photovoltaic markets into world regions with no appropriate regulatory framework and infrastructure for the management of end-of-life photovoltaic panels could lead to environmental and health risks. Given the fast evolution of PV technologies - reflected in efficiency improvements and cost reductions and the correspondingly small proportion of total system cost attributed to the PV module over the last couple of years - as well as in PV recycling technologies, the study demonstrates that the economic incentives for re-use, of end-of-life photovoltaic panels from large scale PV systems are not sufficient to induce a large volume stream towards those options and motivate PV waste trafficking, which has been a topic of raising concern with regard to other WEEE fractions. We therefore conclude that the likelihood of a thriving secondary market for PV panels is very low, given that future new panels will be relatively inexpensive and of higher efficiency, which in turn will drive down BOS costs, making secondary panels unattractive from a system cost perspective.