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Solar has a bit of a waste issue presently. With extraordinary growth in both installations and system size, millions of panels are set to come off the roof in the next few years.
So, can we solve the problem? Yes, with just one word, pricing.
Word is that a lot of solar panels are languishing out of service, literally stacked behind suburban sheds or piling up on pallets around your installer’s yard. At best, they are not doing anyone much good, and at worst, they pose an injury and pollution risk.
Despite a few false starts, solar recycling really needs some direction. We have to get on with it because throwing them into shipping containers to Afghanistan to grow poppies for heroin isn’t a sustainable answer.
The value of used solar is down for a few reasons. Firstly, solar has just been getting cheaper forever. I remember first-hand when solar was $5/Watt, a Sunpower 215W module cost $1075 plus tax & freight. This afternoon I can buy a Jinko 440W on runout for 21cents/Watt. That’s a module with more than double the output, for $94 apiece.
Just bear in mind that while solar has just about always fallen in price, word around the traps is that China is winding back a 9% export incentive, and the price of solar panels may soon go up a little as a result.
This also means the secondary market for used solar panels sent overseas is evaporating. If freight costs are equal, developing countries might buy new panels for 10c/Watt, so a used SunPower 215 is hardly worth $5 here – in fact, salvage buyers won’t touch them unless they’re 250W or more.
The renewable energy target incentivises new panels. The 200 largest polluters in the country are obliged to buy the environmental goodness created by installing solar, and thus not burning coal. The subsidy makes new panels very cheap, but tapers off about 7% per year out to 2030. We should be proud of the scheme’s success – but it does put a premium on new solar over reused panels.
1, 2 and 3kW arrays are now routinely being replaced with systems ten times the size. While newer panels are fine, older arrays and wiring aren’t always compliant, and installers don’t want to offer a warranty on some rubbish they didn’t install. The reputational and financial risk is too great – besides, the space on the roof is coveted.
Government-funded trials have already identified that logistics are the costly part of the problem. I know this because I’ve stripped old systems and packaged the panels for transport. We did it properly, so the modules weren’t damaged in transit because a school roof would yield a lot of domestic warranty repairs. However, it’s expensive with first-world labour rates, especially if they’re all different sizes and sources.
Tossing them into a skip and tipping it into a hopper isn’t cheap either, but time is money, so pragmatically this will be the way a majority(?) of panels will go in our incredibly wasteful first-world economies.
Remember, kids, punctuation saves lives – or at least heinous injuries to your feet.
Anything damaged or pre 2013 fire standards would simply be recycled, but with so much energy invested in manufacturing solar panels, it makes most sense to reuse them instead of just grinding them up.
Again, first-world labour rates are our enemy. Even if they were given away, stewardship means panels must be physically inspected and electrically tested. It wouldn’t be hard to run a “tag ‘n test” training program and test machine to make it simple, but I’d hate to see the idea die in the hands of standards committees.
I’d expect good quality panels could go well for testing and reuse locally. Even at a decade old, you could stack usable panels in containers and electrify remote villages in PNG, for instance.
Half a century ago, South Australia basically ended beverage container waste after university protesters successfully pressured the state government into a deposit scheme. For decades, collecting cans has put money into the hands of kids or the homeless. Making waste worth something gave the Scouts & other community groups a reliable way to raise cash from households and hospitality by donating containers.
I recall firsthand when 40c soft drinks had a 5c deposit, which doubled in 2008. Keeping pace these days would mean a $3 can should attract 37.5c?
South Australia has a sustainable system because the waste stream is sorted. It’s not kerbside recycling full of co-mingled rubbish, so there is real demand. People pay for a clean supply of plastic, cardboard & glass.
The same scrap yard, bottle depot or marine store operation we already have just needs a bay for solar gear. Framing, stainless hardware, inverters and eventually batteries too – though they’ll be tougher to handle properly.
Drive in here, empty your bags, boxes & bins and let the sorting begin.
These guys count, sort, remove lids & pitch containers left, right and center to land in bins, bags & conveyors.
At the moment, secondhand solar is pretty worthless, but giving something a dollar value means people will take an interest in what happens to them. Nobody collects drink cans for the scrap aluminium value of 1 cent each, but the meth heads will strip copper plumbing and wiring from your community hall for $8/kilo, so we need to pick a number in between.
The value must be enough that country folk will throw a load on when they come to town, but not lucrative enough to make theft attractive.
Like old car batteries, used solar panels will come out of the woodwork if we simply put a reasonable bounty on them, which probably needs to be built into the initial purchase price going forward. Scouts, Guides, Rotary Clubs, Men’s Sheds could all play a part in rounding up, reusing and recycling this hardware; we just need some realistic rules to work to.
For more, read about the national inquiry into solar panel recycling and the pilot scheme for recycled panels.
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Anthony joined the SolarQuotes team in 2022. He’s a licensed electrician, builder, roofer and solar installer who for 14 years did jobs all over SA – residential, commercial, on-grid and off-grid. A true enthusiast with a skillset the typical solar installer might not have, his blogs are typically deep dives that draw on his decades of experience in the industry to educate and entertain. Read Anthony’s full bio.
Anthony, I feel what is required is a way of re-using these old panels & hardware. One way, I feel would be for solar generation on farms. If we can generate & safely store energy economically on-farm, there is a bigger argument for diesel replacement.
I feel that what is needed is some thought on system design where a failure is easily identified & replaced. The fact that the panels are less efficient than
newer panels is inconsequential if there is sufficient space. If panels are mounted high enough, the area underneath can be used for animal shading if the design is rugged enough to withstand animals rubbing the structure. A small fenced off area could house the storage inverters & control hardware. Recycled automotive EV batteries could store the power.
If this could be accomplished at a competitive price, it could mean the generation could be distributed over the farm so equipment could be charged closer to the use. Excess generation would be sold back to the grid.
Good morning Anthony
As a retired Environmental Health Officer I say: hear, hear! to this article.
Maybe we need an organisation like Choice or Getup to get behind this issue. Otherwise the pollies won’t act.
I cannot imagine Pauline sees this as an issue. Likely have to be the Greens to do so.
Yours fraternally,
Phill
Great point. The cost of recycling needs to be built into the purchase price. This system needs to be applied to every household item that has the potential for recycling, washing machines, computers, ect ect. This would allow items to be dismantled and the raw materials recovered. Would reduce the impacts on our environment.
Whilst the volume of used solar panels is an issue worth discussing, I believe early focus needs to be on planning and implementing what happens to home battery storage at end of life.
Solar panels are being replaced for larger at about 10-15 years currently. With a 20-25 year warranty on these modules most aren’t even at end of usable life yet.
If we apply the same to battery storage with a 10 year warranty you are looking at 5-7 years before they start failing/being replaced.
With solar panels there are options, some local scrap yards will take them for free, you could pay a small fee at the dump to drop them off.
Currently dumps are limited by their EPA agreements as to how much lithium they can take in.. I know my local dump is limited to 20kG and must be for household use. This eliminates installers dropping them & I believe all home batteries are going to weigh more then 20kG, maybe the older Enphase 1.2kWh modules.
We already have about 6 old batteries sitting here.
Jake, I understand your concern, but feel you are wrong about the Solar Panels. In my case, my panels were installed in 2018, so already approaching end of life. I have just installed a new battery, & the sparky complained about integrating the old system with the new AC coupled battery. Now have 6 inverters! (on 2 phase rural system).
PV panels definitely need disassembly to components to reclaim resources. There is now Australian technology designed by the wonderful Australian engineer (whose name I cannot remember ) that is a low-energy process.
Batteries also need an economical recycling process. There are inherent dangers with batteries, but these must be overcome. There will also be a re-use market for batteries, particularly big packs such as home & EV batteries.
Tesla already has a battery pack repair facility in South Australia, because the packs in the cars & the ones in the big batteries were the same (still?). At least they can replace individual cells.
Problem with building into the purchase price is we have 600,000+ homes with solar and inverters already. 400,000+ of those are under a year old. The batteries may have a life of say 15 years and then we will have at least 16,000 tonnes of lithium composites to recycle or dispose of..Solar panels on top.
Australia needs to find a tax subsidised solution.Charge it upfront plus at end of life. Force recycling onto all use. A installler cant remove without it being lawfully recycled and it cannot be stored. Recyclers will find ways to keep it clean. EPA monitoring. Aluminium frames, glass, silver, copper wiring….Plastics.
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