Through the Roof: How a Brisbane shed is turning old solar panels into silver and copper | Wednesday

A 50m shed south of Brisbane turns solar panels into silver and copper.

Photovoltaic panels that are no longer capable of producing electricity have their aluminum and wires removed, then shredded and processed into plastic, glass, silicon, silver and copper. So far nothing has gone to waste.

Pan Pacific Recycling director John Hill says recovering materials without toxic fumes and without going to landfill is a “significant game changer for the industry around the world.”

The company currently processes 30,000 panels a year and hopes to increase production to 240,000. But the plant’s recycling capacity is only a fraction of the 1.2 million solar panels already being removed from rooftops in the Sunshine State alone.

Australia’s looming solar waste problem, identified by the Federal Government back in 2016 as a priority waste management issue, has become more serious and pressing in recent times.

Robin Cowie, stewardship program manager at the Smart Energy Council, says until recently 60% to 70% of panels removed from the roofs of houses and solar farms in Australia were sent to overseas reuse markets.

Demand for second-hand solar power in Australia completely dried up four weeks ago, she said. The price of brand new panels made in China is now so cheap that solar power has to be used to compete.

“China has enormous capacity to create panels,” she says. “They have panels that are about 1.2 terawatts. They’re using about 598 gigawatts of that power at the moment, and that’s really driving down panel prices.”

The rapidly falling cost of new solar power, made cheaper in Australia thanks to federal government incentives, is also adding to the problem of solar energy waste, she said. Falling costs encourage households and industry to replace working solar panels as soon as possible, and the vast majority end up in landfill.

“Shocking” landfill

For a variety of reasons, solar panels that are expected to last for 20 to 30 years are being removed from rooftops and solar power plants after 10 or 12 years, well before their time. The inverter fails or a new battery is installed, leading to a massive replacement of panels with new ones that can generate more electricity from the same spot on the roof.

Early replacement and closure of used export markets means “an additional millions of panels across the country that will need a home at the end of their life,” Cowie says.

While most states still accept them for landfill – with the exception of Victoria and South Australia, where they are banned – it is “obviously not ideal”, she says.

Associate Professor Penelope Crossley, who researches energy law at the University of Sydney, says without a national governance scheme there is no incentive to reuse or recycle solar energy, and sending panels to landfill is often the cheapest option.

Australia is already a world leader in rooftop solar, installing new systems at 10 times the global rate. There are about 90 million panels on the roofs, she said. “Current estimates are that when these solar systems reach the end of their life, 90% of these systems will go to landfill.”

Sustainability consultant James McGregor says early retirement is leading to a “staggering” number of working solar panels ending up in landfill.

“Every other panel that currently ends up in the waste stream is more than likely fully functional and still capable of lasting at least 15 years,” he says.

He estimates Australia could have eight gigawatts of fully operational solar capacity by 2032 – about a quarter of its currently installed capacity. Also discarded will be faulty panels containing important minerals such as copper and silver needed for the transition to renewable energy sources, which can be recovered through recycling.

McGregor’s startup, Second Life Solar, is working with the NSW Environment Agency and CSIRO to demonstrate the potential of reuse applications, having recently completed a 100kW project at a waste treatment facility in Wagga Wagga, NSW, made entirely of used panels. sent there for processing.

Reuse is supported by a mobile rapid testing unit, developed in collaboration with CSIRO, which checks the electrical and mechanical condition of a solar panel in less than 60 seconds – and costs just a few dollars.

McGregor says reusing solar energy that would otherwise go to landfill allows local councils and recycling businesses that are “about to be inundated with waste solar panels” to recoup their costs.

“The cost of that solar panel could be about $1 in terms of recycling by the time you recycle it,” he says. “If I take that same 300-watt solar panel and put it in the sun for a year, it will generate $117 in electricity, based on average electricity prices.”

Critical shortage of materials

When solar panels arrive at Pan Pacific’s pilot site – part of the Smart Energy Council’s solar energy management program and supported by Queensland Government funding – they are first sorted for reuse, before broken and end-of-life panels are sent for recycling.

Hill has found markets for all the recovered materials – glass, silicon and plastic, as well as more expensive copper, silver and aluminum – but even taking that into account, recycling still costs Pan Pacific $10 to $15 per panel.

The Smart Energy Council is calling for a mandatory national management scheme – to maximize reuse and recycling and prevent replaced and discarded panels ending up in landfill.

“We probably didn’t expect the decommissioning to happen so quickly,” Cowie says. “We think it’s time to act.

“It’s not just about keeping them out of landfill. We will face critical material shortages in the next 10 to 15 years.”

McGregor says: “This is also a good opportunity for Australia… At the moment almost all of our solar panels are imported from China, and at the same time we are throwing away perfectly good panels… These panels have value and could actually contribute to the net zero target.”