The use of solar energy has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years. It is the fastest growing source of energy in the U.S. Solar panels have a useful life of about 25 to 30 years and there are growing numbers that have been around that long. They contain valuable materials, including silver, copper, and aluminum, as well as some hazardous materials, so just committing them to landfills is a bad idea from many perspectives.
Recycling solar panels is a relatively new but increasingly important business. At the present time, roughly 90% of panels that have lost their efficiency due to age or that are defective end up in landfills because that is much cheaper than recycling them. The best option is to reuse them where their reduced efficiency is acceptable. This includes in developing nations or in other places that are able to make use of the lower power in exchange for lower installation cost.
Estimates are that the area covered by solar panels in the U.S. that are due to retire by 2030 would cover about 3,000 football fields. The amount of potential waste contained in all of those panels is quite substantial.
There are new companies dedicated to solar panel recycling such as one called SolarCycle that are trying to change this situation. It is much more expensive to have SolarCycle take away solar panels than to send them to landfills, but it is difficult to find landfills that accept panels and many clients want to minimize the environmental impact of their old panels.
Only 10% of retired solar panels are currently recycled. That that is likely to change as economics and regulations continue to evolve.
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As Millions of Solar Panels Age Out, Recyclers Hope to Cash In
Photo, posted November 23, 2024, courtesy of Mussi Katz via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
