Photovoltaic Recycling Processes

Garvin Heath; Cara Libby; Stephanie Shaw; Karsten Wambach

doi:10.1109/PVSC.2018.8547376

Photovoltaic Recycling Processes

Garvin Heath, Cara Libby, Stephanie Shaw, Karsten Wambach

Strategic Energy Analysis Center

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

6 Scopus Citations

Abstract

Solar photovoltaic (PV) installations must be properly dismantled and any waste treated and disposed of at the end of project life. However, because most of the world's nearly 400 GW of PV systems have been built in the past decade - each expected to operate for between 20 and 30 years - current PV module waste volumes do not yet justify widespread operation of PV recycling facilities. In anticipation of increasing demand however, several recycling companies are evaluating the PV waste market to assess waste-volume growth. Others are pursuing research- and pilot-stage PV module recycling activities. The latter are mostly commercial laminated glass and metal recyclers that process batches of PV modules on a periodic basis. This report describes a recent survey-based evaluation of existing commercial and pilot-scale recycling processes in Europe, and associated life cycle inventory data.

Original language	American English
Pages	2594-2599
Number of pages	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8547376 https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8547376
State	Published - 26 Nov 2018
Event	7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018 - Waikoloa Village, United States Duration: 10 Jun 2018 → 15 Jun 2018

Conference

Conference	7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018
Country/Territory	United States
City	Waikoloa Village
Period	10/06/18 → 15/06/18

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 IEEE.

NREL Publication Number

NREL/CP-6A20-73722

Keywords

companies
electronic waste
Europe
glass
metals
recycling
silicon

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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AU - Libby, Cara

AU - Shaw, Stephanie

AU - Wambach, Karsten

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KW - electronic waste

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KW - glass

KW - metals

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KW - silicon

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T2 - 7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018

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ER -

Photovoltaic Recycling Processes

Abstract

Conference

Bibliographical note

NREL Publication Number

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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