New Delhi: The government plans to come up with a national policy on solar module recycling to lower the adverse environmental impact caused by the disposal of such components and recover reusable materials.
With the lifetime of the initial set of solar projects in India set to end by about 2030, the ministry of environment, forest and climate change and the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) are consulting industry players on a plan to ensure safe disposal of solar waste.
"The government plans to come up with a policy and it is taking inputs from stakeholders. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will play a key role in the formulation of norms and the policy," said one person with knowledge of the developments. Another person said a key consideration is to mandate module recycling by 2029-30. Modules generally have a 25-year lifetime.
India is the third-largest global solar power producer, with an installed capacity of 157 GW and a target of 280 GW by 2030. Additionally, rooftop solar systems are being set up under the ₹75,000 crore PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana. The pace of capacity addition has picked up, with the government targeting the auction of 50 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power annually.
Solar modules are panels of connected photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert sunlight into electricity. Recycling modules prevents electronic waste and helps in the recovery of valuable materials like silver, copper, silicon and glass to feed back into the manufacturing loop.
Partial recovery
According to an analysis by the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), India is projected to generate about 4.5 million tonnes of solar PV waste by 2050. However, only 20% of solar PV waste is recovered, while the rest is disposed of informally.
"Closing this recovery gap is essential to effectively manage the increasing quantity of solar PV waste. Further, it will benefit a wide range of stakeholders," CSTEP said in its report.
The CPCB recently released draft guidelines for the safe storage, handling and transportation of discarded solar photovoltaic modules, panels and cells. The guidelines are part of the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022. Solar PV waste comes under the E-waste category.
Unlike other electronic waste, solar PV waste is exempt from EPR (extended producer responsibility) recycling targets. However, manufacturers and recyclers must register and get storage permission until 2034-35, file annual returns and comply with CPCB standard operating procedures.
“Solar waste is moving up the policy agenda worldwide, and the global trend is towards structured end-of-life responsibility backed by recovery targets,” said Amit Manohar, secretary general of the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA). “Europe is furthest along, with Asia-Pacific and the US now catching up. Those frameworks give us valuable lessons, but India is rightly developing standards built for its own scale and context, shaped by MNRE and CPCB in close consultation with industry.”
Manohar noted that the goal is to come up with a framework that defines recycling around high-value material recovery and distributes responsibility fairly across the value chain.
The focus on recycling gains significance as the domestic module manufacturing capacity has grown multifold over the past few years. India currently has a solar module manufacturing capacity of over 210 GW and cell manufacturing capacity of around 30 GW. With a target to completely indigenize the solar ecosystem in the country, these numbers are set to grow.
Avoiding toxic waste
Recycling modules typically starts with the removal of the aluminium frame of the panel and the junction box at the back, where wires from the solar cells are connected to power supply cables.
“In the case of recycling any module which is at the end of its life or the ones which get rejected during quality check or the ones which are broken during transit, the aluminium frames and junction boxes are removed,” said Gagan Chanana, joint managing director of Jakson Solar, a solar module and cell manufacturing company. “All other components will be sent for recycling. Majorly the end product is silica with silver content, then there is glass including coarse glass and powdered glass, polymer and copper.”
Anujesh Dwivedi, a partner at Deloitte India, said that if left unregulated, end-of-life solar panels could end up at landfills and release toxic heavy metals.
“Solar panel recycling can recover over 90% of module materials, including glass, aluminum, copper and precious metals. Therefore, not recycling them is on the one hand a loss of economic value and a wastage of precious metals and on the other hand adverse for the environment,” Dwivedi said.
He noted that with industrial-scale solar recycling units yet to come up, producers and bulk consumers are allowed to store generated solar waste until 2034-35.
"As the quantity of end-of-life solar panels keeps increasing year-on-year, industry is also expected to develop alongside. At the same time, the sector will require support and incentives from the government, at least in the initial years, to fast track the setting-up of recycling facilities," he added.
Manohar of ISMA said that since significant volumes of end-of-life solar modules are expected in the early 2030s, the industry is using this period to plan, build recycling capacity and strengthen the overall ecosystem.
Queries mailed to the ministries of environment, forest and climate change and new and renewable energy and CPCB remained unanswered till press time.