SOLAR PANEL RECYCLING
- It is estimated that by 2015, 222 GW worth of solar energy had been installed worldwide. According to a recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, that number could reach 4,500 GW by 2050
- In India, currently there has been 55 GW of solar energy installed (December 2021), but the target is to reach 300 GW by 2030. This woud mean appox. 90 crore panels of 330Wp.
- However, the panels that generate the solar power have a fixed life of 25-30 years – as per industry standards – and need to be replaced. With the increasing number of solar panels being installed, and as the years go by, more and more end-of-life solar panels will also need to be discarded.
- To discard these panels would mean discarding 1.98 lakh tonnes of waste only in India. Burying these panels would need an area of 1,746 sq meters – the equivalent of 2.44 lakh football fields.
- There is a need for a sustainable solution to recycle these panels
Panel Recycling
- Ren is currently undertaking R&D on how to recycle the panels in a sustained manner.
- It is ensuring that the solution which it embraces doesn’t lead to any harmful effects in the enviroment .
- It is also further ensuring that the solution is not only scalable but all materials are recovered as far as possible in the orignal form for reuse within the Solar industry or other industries .
- The solution should also be cost effective so that it can be rolled out commercially .