Abstract
PV deployment has grown rapidly in recent decades, and this growth is expected to continue. At the same time, the rapid increase in PV panel efficiencies offers the opportunity to repower/revamp existing installations - replacing operational, lower-efficiency panels before the end of their 30-year service lifetime with newer, higher-efficiency panels. As a result, an increasing volume of PV panels could be decommissioned well before reaching the end of their 30-year service lifetime. Two broad strategies can be applied to manage the expected increase in decommissioned PV panels: (i) recycle prematurely decommissioned panels, and (ii) prevent recycling of these panels by satisfying the typical service lifetime of 30 years through circular economy strategies such as repair and reuse. Each strategy presents an environmental and economic trade-off. Retaining and satisfying the lifetime of the older, lower-efficiency panels avoids environmental burdens from recycling or landfilling but incurs burdens from additional repair and forgoing the opportunity to install newer panels with greater electricity-generation capabilities. This study assesses whether satisfying the expected service lifetime of a PV system through circular economy scenarios generates a greater environmental and financial benefit than recycling used panels and installing newer panels with higher efficiencies. The circular economy scenarios include repair and reuse of the PV system. Specifically, the study determines whether it is better for the environment to keep a PV panel in use for its 30-year service life after accounting for potential repair and additional transportation, or to replace older panels with more efficient new ones. In addition, we explore whether satisfying the service lifetime of PV panels proves competitive with the recycling route from a financial perspective.
Highlights
Deployment of photovoltaics (PV) has been growing rapidly over recent decades, and growth is expected to continue given the urgency and national commitments to climate change mitigation
The full life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results for panel, inverter, and balance of systems (BOS) production and recycling are listed in Annex A-1 and A-2
Our life cycle assessment (LCA) results show that satisfying the 30-year service lifetime of PV panels is clearly favourable from an environmental perspective
Summary
Deployment of photovoltaics (PV) has been growing rapidly over recent decades, and growth is expected to continue given the urgency and national commitments to climate change mitigation. As projected in the 2016 International Renewable Energy Agency/Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) Task 12 report (3), a significant amount of the PV “waste” stream will be panels with early defects, often within the first few years of their service life. Healthy panels can be decommissioned well before reaching their 30-year service lifetime. This may be due to insurance claims, when it is often more economical to replace the entire string even if only one panel is damaged. With rapid PV efficiency improvements and an increasing number of installations becoming 10 years old or older, repowering/revamping likely will scale up in the near future. An increasing volume of PV panels will be decommissioned well before reaching the end of their service lifetime (as defined by warranty period, which is typically [25–30] years)
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