Cu-Pv: Cradle-to-Cradle Sustainable PV Modules
Cu-Pv: Cradle-to-Cradle Sustainable PV Modules
Cu-Pv: Cradle-to-Cradle Sustainable PV Modules
Policy Brief
2016
A large part of solar power development until the end of 2014 has been driven by financial
incentives or ad hoc support schemes. Low and decreasing prices are changing the men-
talities of policy makers across the world, and the recognition that solar PV is a low-cost,
low carbon power source, which will become a significant part of the electricity mix of the
future, is spreading fast.
In a current state of the art recycling process the module may be crushed in a hammer mill.
It will fall apart into glass cullets, back sheet pieces, wiring and silicon solar cells. The pul-
verization results in both smaller and larger materials which may be sorted for recycling.
The principal difficulty encountered regarding the recycling of photovoltaic modules is
financial and related to scale. The current recycling process and even more so envisioned
alternative processes are costly and the waste volumes are still fairly low with regard to
industrializing these processes.
In addition different experimental recycling processes have been evaluated, in the Cu-PV
project as well as elsewhere, in order to find the strengths and weaknesses:
1) Shredding and incineration,
2) Thermal and chemical process,
3) Pyrolysis in fluidized bed reactor
4) Ultrasonic agitation and organic solvent.
The Cu-PV Partners invite the policy makers for the following improved policy frameworks:
I. Legislative framework
1. WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU: realistic and achievable collection target for PV Panels.
2. Promoting of Best Available treatment Technologies Not Entailing Excessive Costs
(BATNEEC).
3. Promoting Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR)
4. Lowering the administrative burden towards the management of waste PV
modules.
As the lifetime of PV cells themselves may be much longer than that of PV modules and the
manufacturing process of wafers and high-purity silicon feedstock requires relatively much
energy, the reuse of cells, wafers, or silicon feedstock would be environmentally preferable,
and efforts should be aimed at economic justification.
INTRODUCTORY PERSPECTIVE
Allowing the wide-spread treatment of PV modules tapping into the circular economy this
policy brief will point out and elaborate that policy makers need to consider improved
policy frameworks with attention to the following aspects:
I. Legislative framework
II. Technical framework
III. Sustainability
Within this Policy brief and the project, the Consortium only includes silicon-based PV
modules into its scope. Therefore here one should not expect an insight into the recycling
and treatment of non-silicon based PV technologies, nor of upcoming new PV technolo-
gies. For the latter it is moreover difficult to estimate their chances of success and market
acceptance especially when forecasting technologies for the next 15 years.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Since 2000, the capacity of photovoltaic solar power has been multiplied by a factor of 100.
Figure 2 shows that over 178 GW was installed globally at the end of 2014, meaning that PV
Installations continued their impressive growth. After years of tremendous developments,
the market in Europe slowed down in 2013 and this trend continued in 2014. It can partly
be explained by the influence of transitioning policies. With around 7 GW installed, in 2014
Europe as a whole was installing less solar power capacity than China or Japan individu-
ally, but more than the USA. However Europe is still a dominant player with more than 88
GW installed at the end of 2014.
EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE
The European solar market is in a transition phase from a period of high feed-in-tariff to an
era of unsubsidized solar electricity.
To survive this transition phase, European solar players have gone through drastic system
cost reductions.
Innovation in design, construction, and in the development of new products and new Busi-
ness Models is a key differentiator in this difficult consolidation period.
Looking at the leading markets presented in Figure 3, the UK took the first place in Europe
with 2.4 GW installed in 2014. Germany achieved to install 1.9 GW and still represents the
second largest PV market in 2014. The one-time global PV leader was under pressure to
adjust its support system, with new regulations leading to a 75% reduction of the market
over two years (from 7.6 GW to 1.9 GW). France, the third largest European market in 2014
installed close to 1 GW, driven by tenders granted in the past and the growing distributed
market.
Beside the top three countries, Italy is in a transition period with less than 400 MW installed
despite a good regulatory framework. Considering markets driven by net-metering, the
When converting Figure 3 into tonnage of waste one sees the major challenge for recycling
and treatment of PV modules in Europe. The non-structural growth of solar PV neither ena-
bles nor attracts investment from the recycling and waste management industry.
Although there is already a potential of 88 GW or 8 Million tonnes of PV modules waste as of
2014, the long lifetime of the product and a return rate of less than one percent during the
first 10 – 15 years of its lifetime are not supporting the ramp up of an economically viable
recycling and treatment technology of PV modules yet.
Size/Stage
Operator Treatment Process PV Technology
of Development
Deutsche Solar AG Thermal separation, Pilot Project, ecological Crystalline, thin film in
chemical processing consideration laboratory
Solar Cells Inc.(currently Thermal decomposition in Laboratory Crystalline
First Solar), BNL Inert gas
Isofotón Cell recycling Laboratory Laboratory
Swelling
Shredding
Repairable module
AIST, Sharp, Asahi Wafer recycling with min- Laboratory Crystalline
eral acids
Solvent swelling (Cellsepa-
Process)
Repairable module
Photovoltech Repairable module Laboratory Crystalline
BP Solar, Soltech, Seghers, Wafer recycling with min- Laboratory/Technical Crystalline
ECN eral acids college
Wafer recycling in fluid-
ized bed
Pilkington Solar Thermal separation Laboratory/Technical Crystalline
International college
Siemens Solar, Shell Solar, Ferrosilicon production Laboratory Crystalline, thin film
Showa Shell High pressure water jet
Other Module shredder, Laboratory Crystalline, thin film
Mechanical separation
Acid treatment
Smelter,
Concrete aggregates, road
construction
Economic insights
Within the Cu-PV project three different methods of recycling PV modules have been com-
pared.
The first method developed by Technical Plating comprises a process flow in which the
junction box, aluminum frame and backsheet are removed. The modules with broken glass
are incinerated in a chamber furnace resulting in glass and solar cell fragments and tab-
bing material. From the modules with unbroken glass the encapsulant/cell sandwich is cut
from the glass. The sandwich is incinerated in a chamber furnace and the glass is mechani-
cally cleaned.
The second method, evaluated in the Cu-PV project by ECN, comprises a process flow
in which, after removing junction box, aluminum frame and backsheet, the remaining
module is heated in a fluidized bed reactor resulting in glass and solar cell fragments and
The policy support for the current recycling and treatment activities regarding photovol-
taic waste is limited.
Although the amount of waste is very low, the PV and waste treatment industry needs to
find solutions for the future when huge amounts will come in. Therefore the development
of treatment methods should continue and be further facilitated.
One of the barriers is that when the product is discarded – from a legal point of view – this
is waste and thus falls under the scope of the waste legislation. The latter is quite regulated
and requires a lot of administration.
However with very low amounts of discarded PV modules the administration and the com-
pliance requirements of the waste legislation are a huge burden to find partners willing to
test the treatment of discarded PV modules, to step into R&D-projects, or – most important
– to invest in (large) economically scaled treatment process lines.
There is a lot of waste legislation related to the general waste management, the licensing
of treatment plants, and the extended producer responsibility. This results in a very com-
plex environment with consequences for the implementation of treatment solutions for PV
modules.
Understanding, analyzing and implementing the requirements already need experts today
while the volumes of waste will still be very small over the next 15 years.
Moreover the existing waste legislation does not reward the characteristics of a PV module
as PV prevents lots of waste during many years.
Reducing the amount of waste generated at source, and reducing the hazardous content of
that waste, is regarded as the highest priority according to the Waste Hierarchy established
in Article 4 of the Waste Framework Directive. Waste prevention is closely linked with im-
proving manufacturing methods and influencing consumers to demand greener products
and less packaging.
c) PV module being considered as Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) and WEEE
The legislator added the photovoltaic panel under the scope of the WEEE Directive (2012/19/
EU).
The WEEE Recycling industry considers a PV module as a classical WEEE-product being
plastics and metals while in reality a PV module is a laminated glass product.
Thus, to find today treatment solutions one needs the flat glass recycling industry, which
does not have the appropriate waste codes in their permit to treat what is from an admin-
istrative point of view (see above re. the EWC) being categorized as WEEE.
A more harmonized implementation of legislation and a tailor-made approach for PV waste
is recommended, as the waste coming from the PV industry is currently considered within
Recommendations:
• The European Union is invited to organize a uniform legislation in all member states in
regard to the classification of discarded PV modules.
• Make a distinction between silicon based and non-silicon based PV modules.
• Facilitate transportation of silicon-based PV modules, as well after as prior to removal of
junction box, across the country borders to treatment facilities.
• Allow - under certain conditions – the shipment of end-of-life silicon-based PV modules
as returned products to allow reverse logistics which then enables support for the search
for innovative treatment solutions.
3. Research support
The European Photovoltaic Technology Platform is a European initiative which aims at mo-
bilizing all the actors sharing a long-term European vision for photovoltaic. The Platform
sets the European Strategic Research Agenda for PV for the next decade(s) and gives rec-
ommendations for implementation.
In addition, within the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) there is an
industrial PV initiative, Solar Europe Initiative (SEI), which is to strengthen cooperation
with member states.
There is attention for recycling and sustainability of PV in both instruments, in particular
the insertion of priority B.6. under the chapter Quality in the PV Implementation Plan 2013
-2005 of the SEI Initiative Team, ‘Development of design criteria facilitating low-cost ef-
ficient recycling processes according to relevant EU standards and directives for new de-
signs for all PV technologies and Balance of System components. Development of easy-to-
access recycling infrastructure available to all is included here’. Nevertheless, in practice,
the Consortium notices a lack of concrete involvement towards recycling initiatives and
the recycling and waste management industry.
Assessing and displaying the environmental footprint of a PV module can be one of the
options to enhance the development of improvements, and more generally, to steer the
market. For example, consumers may prefer to purchase products which are labelled with
a good (low) footprint, or legislation may be installed to require a state-of-the-art (or bet-
ter) footprint for commercial products.
PEFCR
Over the past years, the European Commission has been working towards establishing a
common methodological approach to enable Member States and the private sector to as-
sess, display and benchmark the environmental performance of products, services and
companies based on a comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts over the life-
cycle (‘environmental footprint’).
A Product Environmental Footprint project was initiated with the aim of developing a har-
monized environmental footprint methodology that can accommodate a broad suite of
relevant environmental performance criteria.
Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) aim at providing detailed techni-
cal guidance on how to conduct a product environmental footprint study. PEFCRs comple-
ment general methodological guidance for environmental footprint by providing further
specification at the product level. PEFCRs will increase reproducibility and consistency in
product environmental footprint studies.
Photovoltaic electricity generation is one such product for which the PEFCR is studied in a
pilot project.
Recommendation:
• It may be most advisable in the PEFCR for PV modules, to put emphasis on the content of
recycled materials. This will create an incentive to manufacture recyclable products, but
it will avoid the issue of having to define what “recyclability” is.
The recommendations to manage the waste originating from the present nearly 100 GW
installed PV modules or 8 million tonnes of PV modules in Europe and future additions,
through the short, mid- and long term are the following:
I. Legislative framework
III. Sustainability
1. Recognizing in public campaigns that PV modules contribute greatly to the prevention
of waste due to the manufacturer’ product guarantee of 10 years respectively performance
guarantee of 20 years and more.
2. Emphasize in the Product Environmental Footprint (PEFCR) for PV modules, the promo-
tion of using recycled materials in the products.
Acknowledgments
This policy brief builds to a great extent on Jan Clyncke‘s practical under-standing of Euro-
pean Waste Policy and Business Cases related to material recycling. Other Cu-PV partners
provided additional technical and non-technical background. Maurice Goris, Bart Geer-
ligs and Karsten Wambach provided valuable expert knowledge and helpful suggestions.
Cu-PV is a research project which has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh
Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration un-
der Grant Agreement No 308350.
References
1. Global Market Outlook 2015 – 2019, Solar Power Europe, May 2015.
2. Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2011 on the re-
striction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (ROHS
recast).
3. Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on Waste Electrical
and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).
4. Commission Decision of 3 May 2000 replacing Decision 94/3/EC establishing a list of wastes
pursuant to Article 1(a) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC on waste, and Council Decision 94/904/EC
establishing a list of hazardous waste pursuant to Article 1(4) of Council Directive 91/689/EEC on
hazardous waste.
5. Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on
shipments of waste.
6. Study for the development of a recovery system for photovoltaic products by BMU, EPIA, BSW and
PV CYCLE, 2008.