This report is the first-ever projection of PV panel waste volumes to 2050. It highlights that recycling or repurposing solar PV panels at the end of their roughly 30-year lifetime can unlock an estimated stock of 78 million
As the world continues its journey to net zero, solar energy continues to be a key weapon in the renewable energy development arsenal. Global backing of renewable energy development shows no sign of slowing
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications is a leading journal in the field of solar energy, focused on research that reports substantial progress in efficiency, energy yield and reliability of solar cells. It aims to reach all interested professionals, researchers, and energy policy-makers.
This report is the first-ever projection of PV panel waste volumes to 2050. It highlights that recycling or repurposing solar PV panels at the end of their roughly 30-year lifetime can unlock an estimated stock of 78 million tonnes of raw materials and other valuable components globally by 2050.
A steady trend in technology improvements is observed, with crystalline solar PV being the dominant technology in the market. Increasing scales of production have also led to significant cost reductions in the per watt cost of solar modules.
Global cumulative investment in solar PV manufacturing facilities doubled in the past decade amounting USD 100 billion in 2021 increasing by 50% during 2014–21 as compared to 2008–14. Additionally, the solar supply chains is highly concentrated in China, and there is need for diversification across the regions.
It is seen that the global weighted-average LCOE of solar PV technology reduced by about 89 % from 0.445 USD/kWh in 2010 to 0.049 USD/kWh in 2022. It is noticeable that the LCOE of PV technology has dropped into the range of fossil fuel electricity costs since 2014.
The main focus will be on one of the most successful technologies in recent years: solar photovoltaics (solar PV).
