Photovoltaic panel waste assessment and embodied material flows in China, 2000-2050

Guanghan Song; Yujie Lu; Bo Liu; Huabo Duan; Haibo Feng; Gang Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117675

Photovoltaic panel waste assessment and embodied material flows in China, 2000-2050

J Environ Manage. 2023 Jul 15:338:117675. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117675. Epub 2023 Mar 28.

Authors

Guanghan Song¹, Yujie Lu², Bo Liu¹, Huabo Duan³, Haibo Feng⁴, Gang Liu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Building Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
² Department of Building Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Key Laboratory of Performance Evolution and Control for Engineering Structures of Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Intelligent Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: lu6@tongji.edu.cn.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430000, China.
⁴ Department of Wood Science, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁵ College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Electronic address: gangliu@pku.edu.cn.

PMID: 36989951
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117675

Abstract

Solar photovoltaics (PV) is one of the most promising renewable energy sources for climate change mitigation. However, not all green energy installations may not continue to be sustainable after their service life. With the largest installed solar capacity in the world, China is expected to face significant challenges in managing the end-of-life (EoL) PV panels in the coming decades, which have not been well addressed yet.Further, the massive deployment and planning of solar energy systems in China has led to a dramatic increases in demand for raw materials, which places more pressure on the available resources. In this study, we have developed a dynamic, technology-based material flow analysis model to clarify the stock, flow and secondary supply potential of waste PV panel materials in China from 2000 to 2050. The waste generation and circular flow characteristics of the component materials in PV panels are comprehensively investigated, which set important boundary conditions for the recovery and recycling of key materials. The results show that approximately 134 million metric tons (Mt) and 72 Mt of waste PV panels will be cumulatively generated in China up to 2050 under the early loss and regular loss scenarios, respectively. Polysilicon glass accounts for the largest share of PV waste, nearly 64% by weight, followed by aluminum (16%) and steel (11%). Precious metals such as Ag, Ga, In, and Te, account for less than 1% of the total PV waste, but can provide considerable economic benefits if recycled wisely. The potential of secondary resources from PV waste may reduce the supply pressure on the natural materials to some extent, but they could not fully mitigate the material supply resks. We suggest that stakeholders in the solar energy industry should take urgent actions, including recycling technology innovations, effective collection systems and incentive measures, to address the growing challenge of waste PV panels in China.

Keywords: China; End-of-life management; Material flow analysis; Material recycling; Solar photovoltaic energy.

MeSH terms

Aluminum
China
Electronic Waste* / analysis
Metals
Recycling
Solar Energy*
Waste Management* / methods
Waste Products

Substances

Metals
Aluminum
Waste Products