Environmental Analysis of End-of-Life Scenarios for Decommissioned Crystalline Silicon PV Modules

Master thesis (2023)

Authors

K. Drop Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Contributors

M.R. Vogt Photovoltaic Materials and Devices - EEMCS (supervisor 1)
A.W. Weeber Photovoltaic Materials and Devices - EEMCS (supervisor 2)
H Vahedi DC systems, Energy conversion & Storage - EEMCS (supervisor 2)
René Eijsbouts (supervisor 1)
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Copyright: © 2023 Kevin Drop
Reuse Life cycle assessment (LCA) PV panels
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Published Date

19-12-2023

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Abstract

Many functional photovoltaic (PV) modules are decommissioned prematurely, often due to the financially motivated repowering of PV systems. This study assesses under which circumstances there is an environmental incentive to reuse these modules as opposed to recycling and replacing them with new, more efficient modules. A life cycle assessment was conducted, covering the end-of-life treatment, manufacturing, transport and use phase of decommissioned and new modules. The decommissioned modules had an efficiency of 14.7% in 2011, the new modules have an efficiency of 19.79%. The analysis covers two different reuse scenarios (local and export) and two different replacement scenarios, based on the quality of the recycling and the manufacturing country of the new modules.

The impacts are quantified in three categories: global warming potential, eco-cost of resource scarcity and total eco-cost. The findings indicate that, because of rapid technological advancements, the recycling and replacement of 10-year old decommissioned modules generally yield greater environmental benefits than local reuse: the net benefit in terms of global warming is greater after only 5 years. In addition, the calculations show that reusing decommissioned modules in a new PV system is only the preferred strategy from a global warming perspective if the modules are less than 5 years old, if that system is intended to have a (financial) lifetime of 10 years or longer.
However, reuse in a selected European Union member state can provide greater benefits in the global warming potential and total eco-cost impact categories than recycling and replacement. The advantage of export is driven by higher annual irradiation as well as a higher emissions intensity of the electricity mix.

These results contrast the conventional belief that reuse is always environmentally preferable to recycling. Based on this research it can be argued that in most cases of premature decommissioning, there is no strong environmental incentive to reuse the modules, provided that new PV modules are widely available or that the materials go directly to the production of new modules. The annual efficiency increase of PV technology was identified as a key parameter for this outcome.