With growing demand for energy and the shift towards renewable energy, countries like India are targeting energy mixture with alternate sources like solar, wind and water. With the current growth of solar energy use in India, it is predicted that high amounts of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) waste would be generated in the near future which left improperly managed would lead high amount of useful and expensive material ending up in landfills. This research focuses on the potential material generated from the growth of solar PV stock in India.
This research studied the growth of solar PV industry and the spread of Solar PV growth in India. The stock growth of solar PV till 2030 based on India’s renewable energy goal of 280 GW solar energy is taken. Further study on End of Life (EOL) management of Solar PV was studied and the best practice scenarios from around the globe for handling Solar PV waste was studied. The circular economy approach for the Solar PV industry was also reviewed. 3 scenarios were created to determine how the waste from these Solar PV would be managed based on the current state in India, using best-case scenario from around the world and circular economy practices. These scenarios were simulated using dynamic material flow analysis to determine the waste inflow and outflow of material based on the defined scenario.
It was determined that more than 21 million tonnes of waste would end up in landfill by 2060 if India does not increase its recycling capabilities. Also, by adapting Germany’s WEEE regulation for solar PV waste management, 2 other scenarios are created, which uses extended producer responsibility and would provide India with the capability to handle future Solar PV waste. A comparison of these 2 scenarios showed higher recovery of material in one (423 thousand tonnes) while generating 21 times more waste to landfill than the other (16 thousand tonnes).
It is found that the outflow of tonnes of material is same in all 3 of the scenarios and the highest amount of waste produced by the 280GW target of 2030 would be in 2055 at over 1.6 million tonnes. It is predicted that landfill can end by 2033 or 2044 in the defined scenarios but shows variation in the amount of recovered material would differ between them. Achieving the scenarios put forward would involve coordination between Government agencies, producers of solar PV and the actual users of PVs. A shift to a formal waste management sector would be required and a successful implementation of policies and targets would lead to improvement in multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for India.