Exploration on how could Chinese PV module recycling companies scale up a new recycling technology

Abstract

As of 2021, China's newly installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity has topped the world for nine consecutive years. Considering that the general life of crystalline silicon PV modules is 25 years, in the near future, China will face a wave of decommissioning of waste PV modules. Therefore, it is crucial to develop and improve China's PV module recycling industry in advance. Based on TIS framework, this thesis analyzes how to make module recycling spread in China from the perspective of PV module recycling enterprises. The main content of the research is divided into two parts: the first part collects literature, reports and news related to PV module recycling technologies, and puts different technologies into the established evaluation system for evaluation, so as to obtain the best performing technologies. In the second part, information related to China's PV module recycling technology and industry is collected through desk research and interviews, and the status of each building block and influencing conditions in TIS framework is analyzed. On this basis, the barriers to the large-scale diffusion of PV module recycling in China are found, and the corresponding strategies that need to be adopted by all parties are also developed. The research results of this thesis show that the mechanical delamination of PV modules and the hydrometallurgical technology for valuable metal recovery are the most promising combination of PV module recycling technologies. At present, there are four main barriers to the large-scale diffusion of PV module recycling in China. First, the level of recycling technologies used by enterprises are uneven, and there is a lack of core technologies for large-scale treatment and disposal of pollutants generated by recycling. Second, it is not clear what to do with the valuable materials obtained after recycling. Third, China's PV module recycling market is very chaotic, lack of fair competition. Fourth, there are still gaps in key policies and standards, including subsidies and policies to regulate market order, as well as standards to judge whether PV modules are abandoned. Removing these barriers will require different types of actors in the industry. PV module recycling enterprises need to continuously explore and improve the module recycling technologies and supporting technologies. At the same time, they need to determine what to do with the recovered valuable materials. In addition, the Chinese government needs to formulate a subsidy policy for research and development and investment related to PV module recycling. Also, policy gaps to regulate market order should be quickly filled. The National Standardization Administration needs to issue the standard for judging the waste of PV modules as soon as possible.