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While they are being
promoted around the world as
a crucial weapon in reducing
carbon emissions, solar
panels have an average
lifespan of 25-30 years.
Experts say billions of
panels will eventually all
need to be disposed of and
replaced.
"The world has installed
more than one terawatt of
solar capacity. Ordinary
solar panels have a capacity
of about 400W, so if you
count both rooftops and
solar farms, there could be
as many as 2.5 billion solar
panels.," says Dr Rong Deng,
an expert in solar panel
recycling at the University
of New South Wales in
Australia.
According to the British
government, there are tens
of millions of solar panels
in the UK. But the
specialist infrastructure to
scrap and recycle them is
lacking.
Energy experts are
calling for urgent
government action to
prevent a looming
global environmental
disaster.
"It's going to be a
waste mountain by
2050, unless we get
recycling chains
going now," says Ute
Collier, deputy
director of the
International
Renewable Energy
Agency.
"We're producing
more and more solar
panels - which is
great - but how are
we going to deal
with the waste?" she
asks.
It is hoped
a major step
will be
taken at the
end of June,
when the
world's
first
factory
dedicated to
fully
recycling
solar panels
officially
opens in
France.
ROSI, the
specialist
solar
recycling
company
which owns
the
facility, in
the Alpine
city of
Grenoble,
hopes
eventually
to be able
to extract
and re-use
99% of a
unit's
components.
As well as
recycling
the glass
fronts and
aluminium
frames, the
new factory
can recover
nearly all
of the
precious
materials
contained
within the
panels, such
as silver
and copper,
which are
typically
some of the
hardest
materials to
extract.
These rare
materials
can
subsequently
be recycled
and reused
to make new,
more
powerful,
solar units.
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Conventional methods of
recycling solar panels
recover most of the
aluminium and glass - but
ROSI says the glass, in
particular, is of relatively
low-quality.
The glass recovered using
those methods can be used to
create tiles, or in
sandblasting - it can also
be mixed with other
materials to make asphalt -
but it cannot be used in
applications where
high-grade glass is
required, such as the
production of new solar
panels.
Boom period
The
new
ROSI
plant
will
open
during
a
boom
period
for
solar
panel
installations.
The
world's
solar
energy
generation
capacity
grew
by
22%
in
2021.
Around
13,000
photovoltaic
(PV)
solar
panels
are
fitted
in
the
UK
every
month
-
most
of
them
on
the
roofs
of
private
houses.
In
many
cases,
solar
units
become
relatively
uneconomical
before
they
reach
the
end
of
their
expected
lifespan.
New,
more
efficient
designs
evolve
at
regular
intervals,
meaning
it
can
prove
cheaper
to
replace
solar
panels
that
are
only
10
or
15
years
old
with
updated
versions.
If
current
growth
trends
are
sustained,
Ms
Collier
says,
the
volume
of
scrap
solar
panels
could
be
huge.
"By
2030,
we
think
we're
going
to
have
four
million
tonnes
[of
scrap]
-
which
is
still
manageable
-
but
by
2050,
we
could
end
up
with
more
than
200
million
tonnes
globally."
To
put
that
into
perspective,
the
world
currently
produces
a
total
of
400
million
tonnes
of
plastic
every
year.
Recycling
challenges
The reason there are so few facilities for recycling solar panels is because there has not been much waste to process and reuse until recently.
The first generation of domestic solar panels is only now coming to the end of its usable life. With those units now approaching retirement, experts say urgent action is needed.
"Now is the time to think about this," says Ms Collier.
France is already a leader among European nations when it comes to processing photovoltaic waste, says Nicolas Defrenne. His organisation, Soren, partners with ROSI and other firms, co-ordinating the decommissioning of solar panels all over France.
"The biggest one [we decommissioned] took three months," Mr Defrenne recalls.
His team at Soren has been experimenting with different ways of recycling what they collect: "We're throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks."
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At ROSI's high-tech
plant in Grenoble,
the solar panels are
painstakingly taken
apart to recover the
precious materials
inside - such as
copper, silicon and
silver.
Each solar panel
contains only tiny
fragments of these
precious materials
and those fragments
are so intertwined
with other
components that,
until now, it has
not been
economically viable
to separate them.
But because they are
so valuable,
extracting those
precious materials
efficiently could be
a game-changer, says
Mr Defrenne.
"Over 60% of the
value is contained
in 3% of the weight
of the solar
panels," he says.
The team at Soren
are hopeful that, in
the future, nearly
three-quarters of
the materials needed
to make new solar
panels - including
silver - can be
recovered from
retired PV units and
recycled - to help
speed up production
of new panels.
Currently there is
not enough silver
available to build
the millions of
solar panels which
will be required in
the the transition
from fossil fuels,
says Mr Defrenne:
"You can see where
you have a
production
bottleneck, it's
silver."
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Meanwhile
British
scientists
have been
trying to
develop
similar
technology
to ROSI.
Last year,
researchers
at the University
of Leicester announced
they had
worked out
how to
extract
silver from
PV units
using a form
of saline.
But so far,
ROSI is the
only company
in its field
to have
scaled up
its
operation to
industrial
levels.
Moreover,
the
technology
is
expensive.
In Europe,
importers or
producers of
solar panels
are
responsible
for
disposing of
them when
they become
expendable.
And many
favour
crushing or
shredding
the waste -
which is far
cheaper.
Mr Defrenne
acknowledges
that
intensive
recycling of
solar panels
is still in
its infancy.
Soren and
its partners
recycled
just under
4,000 tonnes
of French
solar panels
last year.
But there is
potential to
do a lot
more. And
he's making
that his
mission.
"The weight
of all the
new solar
panels sold
last year in
France was
232,000
tonnes - so,
by the time
those wear
out in 20
years,
that's how
much I'll
need to
collect
every year.
"When that
happens, my
personal
goal is to
ensure
France will
be the
technological
leader of
the world."
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Please read the
information provided explaining the Wildlife Survey that is
underway for the area that will be affected by the proposed
solar facility. This is being done by eminently qualified
individuals as a way to understand how the features of this
facility; fencing, massive rows of solar panels, power lines,
and possible battery storage buildings will impose on the
wildlife habitat and biodiversity of the area.
Wildlife Surveys
in two Study Areas Adjacent to Bonanza
Nate Bickford, PhD Chair of Natural Sciences at
Oregon Tech ( See attached CV)
We are
using wildlife survey methods to get an idea of wildlife
occupancy and distribution in two Study areas near
Bonanza, OR. These surveys were established to identify
wildlife patterns of habitat use, contrasting the two
study areas. This study was not developed to quantify
habitat but instead look at occupancy and abundance. We
will be focusing on large animals (deer and pronghorn)
but will include all wildlife data collected (birds,
small mammals, etc.).
For some
population studies, simply determining whether a species
is present in an area is sufficient for conducting the
planned data analysis. It is far easier to determine if
there is at least one individual of the target species
on a sampling unit that to count all of the individuals.
Determining with confidence that a species is not
present on a sampling unit also requires more intensive
sampling that collecting count or frequency data because
it is so difficult to dismiss the possibility that an
individual eluded detection. The probability of
occurrence can be estimated using approaches such as
those described by MacKenzie and Royale (2005) offered a
excellent overview for mangers of the trade-off between
the number of units sampled per year and the number of
years (or other unit of time) for which the study is to
be conducted. The variation in the estimated trend in
occupancy decreases as the number of times of data
increases.
Animals
can be surveyed using direct methods (counting the
animals themselves) or indirect methods (counting signs
or signals, such as dung, tracks, or sounds). We are
using direct counting methods using point counts and
camera photos to survey occupancy and abundance.
For our
camera photos we will place 14 cameras in the study
areas. We are using basic methods that will allow us to
identify occupancy and abundance (Kays et al. 2020). We
will place 7 cameras in each study area covering likely
movement corridors. The cameras will be checked monthly
during point count surveys. During the check battery
will be checked and SD card replaced. Then pictures will
be grouped and evaluated.
Point
Count Stations
A total
of 8- point count stations were established, 4 in each
of the two study areas. The point locations were
established to get the best 360 views of the region. A
full survey will be 4 hours in each region (1 hour at
each point count station). We change which sites are
surveyed in the mourning vs. evening surveys. During
these counts we will identify all species we hear or
see.
At the end of the survey, we will create
a report on our findings and recommendations.
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