The document analyzes the environmental impacts of end-of-life photovoltaic panels and recycling of PV materials. It examines a case study of a PV recycling plant in Greece and assesses three scenarios for PV waste collection in Greece up until 2040 based on annual growth rates of installed PV capacity. Under the best scenario of 85% collection, over 90,000 tonnes of PV waste could be properly recycled annually by 2040, recovering valuable materials like glass, aluminum and rare metals while minimizing environmental impacts. A business strategy is proposed for a potential Greek or EU-wide PV recycling infrastructure to handle the increasing volumes of waste.

1. Environmental Impacts of end-of-life
Photovoltaic Panels and Recycling of
Photovoltaic Materials. Current Status
and Prospects. Case study a PV
Recycling Plant in Greece.
Author: Vasilikos Nikolaos
Supervisor: Dr. Emilia Kondili
MSc in Energy
TEI of Piraeus – Heriot Watt
September 2014

2. Outline.
 Introduction
 Scope of the work
 Research Questions
 Methodology
 Results
 Internal discussion
 External discussion
 Further work to be done
2

3. Introduction 1.
 Life expectancy is 20-30 years  in 2020, the expected amount
of PV waste will significantly increase.
 Photovoltaic energy is a clean energy source and must remain
"green“.
 Protect the environment and prevent the consumption of new raw
materials.
 Find ways to reuse the photovoltaic cells that were simply thrown
away, which was an increasingly cost-inefficient process.
 The basic strategy of recycling is that nothing is waste and
everything can be a valuable resource if it is used properly.
3

4. Introduction 2.
 EU countries need to cover
12% of electricity from PV
by 2020 (EPIA).
 PV growth in 2013 reached
2.5 GW in Greece.
o 68% the target of 2014
(1.5 GW)
o 14% the target of 2020
(2.2 GW)
 New goal for Greece:
6.2 GW by 2020 (SEF).
multi-Si;
90.1%
mono-Si;
7.7%
CdTe; 2.2%
Participation of each
technology in Greek PV
market
4

5. Introduction 3.
5
Solar cell type Composition
Crystalline silicon
Monocrystalline,
multicrystalline, foil drawn
Panel composition
Front
Glass, acrylate,
polycarbonate, polyester,
Tefzel, other
Back
Tedlar-Polyester-Tedlar,
Tedlar-Aluminium-Tedlar,
glass, steel, acrylate,
polycarbonate, other
Compound material
Ethylene vinyl acetate,
polyvinyl butyral,
polyurethane, acrylates,
silicones, other
Framing
Metals
Aluminium alloys, steels
Plastic materials
Polycarbonates,
polyurethane, polyester,
other
Raw material
extraction &
refining
Module
manufacturing &
assembly
Installation &
use
End-of-life
management &
recycling

6. Scope of the work.
 Analyze existing recycling
methods for the major types
of commercialized
photovoltaic materials.
 Examine the potential
negative environmental
impacts related with end-of-
life PV panels.
 Examine the prospects of a
business strategy for a
possible PV recycling
infrastructure in Greece.
6

7. Research Questions.
What are the main parts of a
photovoltaic panel and which
of them are recyclable?
What are the main
environmental impacts of an
end-of-life Photovoltaic panel?
Which are the methods for
recycling photovoltaic panels?
7

8. Known procedures for recycling.
Institution/ Company Process description Status
Solar Cells Inc.
CdTe-Panels: Comminution,
chemical solving and separation
Pilot plant (mobile)
Drinkard Metalox Inc.
CIGS and CdTe: Metal recovery
by electrolysis
Pilot plant (planned) (1998)
First Solar
Treatment of panels, separation
of glass, concentration of Te and
Cd in a filter cake, recovery of
Cd and Te from the filter cake
Established since 1998
Deutsche Solar AG
Crystalline, thin-film in
laboratory: Thermal separation,
Chemical processing
Pilot production, ecological
consideration
Disposer
Removal of frames and cable,
disposal, incineration
Production
8

9. Potential environmental impacts from
end-of-life PV panels.
 Lead leaching into soil.
 Cadmium leaching into soil.
 Loss of conventional resources (aluminum and
glass).
 Loss of rare materials (silver, indium, gallium and
germanium)
9

10. Methodology 1.
10
Three cases for Greece -
Annual PV growth rate
1st case
(best case)
13.4%
2nd case 7.2%
3rd case
(worst case)
3.0%
Total and annual PV installed
capacity (MWp) for time period
2007-2020.
Total volume of PV waste
(tonnes) for each PV technology
for time period 2014-2040.
Three scenarios for Greece for PV
waste collection and treatment
No policy action 0%
Voluntary action 20%
Best scenario 85%
 Annually compare the
amount of recycled PV
materials (tonnes/material).
 Examine a business strategy
for a possible PV recycling
infrastructure in Greece (silicon
based PV panels only).

11. Methodology 2.
11
Examine a business strategy for a possible PV recycling
infrastructure in Greece (silicon based PV panels only).
The minimum capacity in
order to be economic
viable is 20,000 tonnes
of PV waste
Greece only 2025-2026
Greece in cooperation
with other EU
countries.
2022-2023

12. Assumptions for the three cases.
• Continuous and steady growth for new PV installation in
the Greek market for 2014-2020.
• The participation of each technology remains constant
for each year under consideration.
• New PV technologies and future aspects are not
included. All the assumptions are based on information
currently available (2013).
• All figures show annual values.
12

13. Case 1: Annual PV growth rate 13.4%.
2.5 GW
6.2 GW
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
MWp
Year
Total installed capacity MWp Annual Installed capacity MWp
13
Expected future data
Existing data

14. Assumptions for the total amount of PV
waste.
• All figures concern the PV waste volume for the
period 2023-2040 in Greece for the 3rd case
(annual growth 13.4%).
• The participation of each technology remains
constant for each year under consideration.
• 10% of the first installed PVs are replaced after 7
years.
• Annual waste (tonnes) =[average weight per
panel (kg) / average normal capacity per panel
(Wp)] * annual installed capacity (Wp).
14

15. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039 2040
Tonnes
Thousand
Year
Waste CdTe
Waste Si-mono
Waste Si-poly
Total amount of PV waste. Based on 13,4%
annual growth rate
≈110,000
tonnes
≈170,000
tonnes
15

16. Scenario Assessed.
I. Base line scenario. No policy, Greece will not
involve proper disposal on end-of-life photovoltaic
panels (worst case).
II. Voluntary action. A voluntary participation in
collection and recycling of end-of-life photovoltaic
panels (20% collection rate).
III. Policy action. According to the new WEEE
directive, 85% of the waste will be recovered.
16

17. Main assumptions
for scenarios.
• Examined period 2007-2040.
• Lifespan for all technologies  15 years.
• The participation of each technology remains
constant for each year under consideration.
• Proper treatment and recycling methods are
based on current knowledge.
• 10% of the first installed PVs are replaced after
7 years.
17
100% of the
panels are
properly
recycled
Materials
Percentage of
each material
in silicon based
PV panels
Percentage of
recovered
mass
Glass 74% 95%
Aluminum 10% 100%
Rare materials 16% 30%

18. Results: Scenario 3 (85% of PV waste
will be properly recycled).
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039 2040
TonnesThousand
Year
Total waste properly
recycled CdTe
Total waste properly
recycled Si-mono
Total waste properly
recycled Si-poly
≈ 93,000
tonnes
≈ 113,000
tonnes
18
Existing
data
Expected future data

19. Internal discussion
Benefits for each scenario for 2028.
Total
2028 (annually) Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
Quantities (tonnes)
Amount of PV waste
generated
108,701 108,701 108,701
Properly treated for
recycling
0 21,740 92,396
Not Properly treated and
not sent for recycling
108,701 86,961 16,305
Environmental benefits of policy actions
Soil and air pollution (in tonnes)
Lead leaching from c-Si PV
modules
0 1.52-10.59 6.51-41.98
Cadmium leaching from
CdTe PV modules
0 0.04-0.20 0.15-0.85
Gain of resources (recycling input in tonnes)
Glass 0 16,088 68,373
Aluminum 0 2174 9240
Rare metals/Other 0 3478 14,783
Gain of resources (recycling output in tonnes)
Glass 0 15,283 64,955
Aluminum 0 2174 9240
Rare metals/Other 0 1044 4435
19

20. 19
44
16
41
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039 2040
Tonnes
Thousand
Year
Case 1 (GR:13.6%) Case 2 (GR:7.2%)
Business strategy for a possible PV recycling
infrastructure in Greece (silicon based PV
panels).
Minimum volume
capacity 20,000 tonnes
Data based on Scenario 3
(85% properly recycled)
20

21. 21
Photovoltaic capacity EU
countries for 2013 (MWp).

22. Annual PV capacity EU countries near
Greece (MWp).
Country 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Italy
12 62 338 699 2321 9286 3597 1253
Greece
0 2 10 35 152 425 912 1043
Romania
0,2 0,1 0,2 0,1 1,4 0,9 46,1 973
Bulgaria
0 0,8 0,2 5 11 115 801 86
Slovenia
0,2 0,6 1 7 27 54 127 37
Slovakia
0 0 0,1 0,1 143,8 344 29 20
Cyprus
0,5 0 1 1 3 4 7 17
Malta
0 0 0,1 1,8 0 9 7 6
Croatia
0,7 2 2,4 6,4 4 0 5 3
Total
13,6 67,5 353 755,4 2663,2 10237,9 5531,1 3438
22
Italy installed
16.4GW in the
period 2010-2013

23. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
2021 2022 2023 2024
Tonnes
Thousand
Year
Total waste x-Si
Business strategy for a possible PV recycling
infrastructure in Greece in cooperation with
other EU countries.
23
Minimum volume
capacity 20,000 tonnes
Data based on Scenario 3
(85% properly recycled)
≈ 800,000
tonnes in
2026
Expected future
data

24. Why Greece and not Italy?
1. Greece was selected as the center.
2. The PV waste can be transported by land
(most economical attractive solution) and sea.
3. Greece and Italy are in a similar situation due
to economic crisis.
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25. External discussion
• A paper by Fthenakis, V., (2000) presents the end-of-life
management and recycling of PV panels and examines
the feasibility of collection and recycling.
• A paper from Wamback, K was presented in the 27th
European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and
Exhibition with title “PV PANEL TAKE BACK AND
RECYCLING SYSTEMS IN EUROPE NEW CHALLENGES
UNDER WEEE”.
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26. Further work to be done.
• Life Cycle Analysis for end-of-life PV panels.
• A review of green logistics schemes that can be used in Greek
PV market.
• Economic and environmental study of a PV recycling
infrastructure.
• Study strategically, if Greece can be the hub between
Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa in the PV recycling
industry.
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27. 27