Environmental Benefits of Closing the Solar Manufacturing and Recycling Loop: Preparation of Solar Manufacturing Inventories
The cumulative global solar panel waste stream is projected to reach between 60 and 78 million tonnes by 2050. Steps towards developing, demonstrating, and implementing processes that recover glass, metals, and semiconductor materials from end-of-life solar panels have already been taken. However, these processes result in the downcycling of most secondary solar materials. Critically, the costs and benefits of capturing these secondary materials for use in new solar panels are unknown. To evaluate the environmental benefit associated with solar material recycling and reuse in next generation panels, prior inventories must be updated and prepared for integration with recycling processes to examine the benefit of closing the material loop between solar panel end-of-life and new panel manufacturing. This current work describes steps taken to upgrade existing inventories that detail the manufacturing of cadmium-telluride (CdTe) panels from the Ecoinvent -v2.2 life cycle inventory database to Ecoinvent -v3. During this update, material inventories were modified to capture different realistic material supply chains within the constraints of Ecoinvent -v3. Materials discussed in detail in this work include primary flat glass, aluminum, steel, copper, and CdTe. This work demonstrated that environmental indicators such as embodied carbon, acidification, and terrestrial eutrophication associated with solar panel production can be reduced by 25% to over 40% through improved primary material sourcing.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); REMADE Institute; University of California, Irvine
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1855588
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CH-6A20-82407; MainId:83180; UUID:ef585b03-4ede-4587-a8ff-ea503eb60c01; MainAdminID:64062
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Water Footprint of European Rooftop Photovoltaic Electricity based on Regionalised Life Cycle Inventories
Application of Developed APCVD Transparent Conducting Oxides and Undercoat Technologies for Economical OLED Lighting