End-Of-Life Management of Photovoltaic Solar Modules

Ewa Klugmann-Radziemska

End-Of-Life Management of Photovoltaic Solar Modules

Abstract

The PV industry continues to push its credentials as a technology that addresses one of the fundamental challenges of our times – climate change. There are however two major concerns about this technology: first, the potential negative environmental impacts of energy used in the production stage and second, the possible shortage of the valuable materials in the future. The currently dominant semiconductor used in photovoltaic modules is silicon, particularly crystalline silicon wafers. The average lifetime of PV modules can be expected to be more than 25 years. Therefore, many researchers have indicated the need for valuable materials from damaged and spent crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules to be re-used, but up till now no one has come up with a viable solution to this problem. Also, sustainable recycling of photovoltaic thin film modules gains in importance due to the considerable growth of the PV market and the increasing scarcity of the resources for semiconductor materials. The establishment of recycling and reuse technologies appropriate and applicable to all PV modules is a key issue to be addressed as part of the corporate social responsibility to safeguard the environment and to implement a fully material-circulated society without any wastes. However, the problem of utilizing worn out photovoltaic systems, the amount of which will rapidly increase in the future, is yet to be solved.

Author (1)

Ewa Klugmann-Radziemska prof. dr hab.

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Category:: Monographic publication
Type:: rozdział, artykuł w książce - dziele zbiorowym /podręczniku w języku o zasięgu międzynarodowym
Title of issue:: Photovoltaic Systems: Design, Performance and Applications strony 237 - 259
Language:: English
Publication year:: 2018
Bibliographic description:: Klugmann-Radziemska E.: End-Of-Life Management of Photovoltaic Solar Modules// Photovoltaic Systems: Design, Performance and Applications/ ed. Wasila Isaadi New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2018, s.237-259
Verified by:: Gdańsk University of Technology