Photovoltaic waste assessment of major photovoltaic installations in the United States of America

Abstract

Abstract During the last decade, photovoltaic capacity in the United States has grown annually by 65% on average. Such rapid growth in capacity is naturally followed by an equally rapid growth of PV waste generation. This paper quantifies the future PV waste from the 69.7 GW reported as major PV projects (≥1 MW) in the U.S. at the end of 2015, including not only the modules but also the balance of system (BOS). Considering an average module lifetime of 30 years, 9.8 million metric tons (Mt) of PV waste are expected between 2030 and 2060. Of this, 6.6 Mt are PV modules, 2.7 Mt are BOS, 0.3 Mt are inverters, and 0.2 Mt are transformers. PV panel waste alone will grow from 1.3 Mt in 2040 to 5.5 Mt by 2050. The material value of metal in all PV installations is worth nearly 22 billion dollars, with aluminum, silicon, gold, steel, and copper making up 75% of the total value. It is estimated that 9.2 Mt of the metals contained in the PV systems can be recovered, including 1816 tons (t) of silver, 27 t of gold, 1073 t of gallium, 515 t of indium and 2010 t of tellurium.