Australia's biggest rooftop solar market is facing a fast-growing challenge: what to do with millions of aging solar panels once they reach the end of their useful lives.
New South Wales' government has begun consulting on a plan that could make it the first place in Australia to require solar manufacturers and importers to help pay to collect and recycle old panels, rather than sending them to landfill.
Here's what to know
The state is weighing a mandatory product stewardship model for solar panels that would make manufacturers and importers shoulder part of the cost of handling panels at the end of their lives. As PV Magazine reported, the idea is to recover useful materials from discarded photovoltaic panels and reduce dumping, stockpiling, and landfill disposal.
Submissions are open until 16 November as the government seeks feedback through an issues paper on how NSW can expand panel recycling, remanufacturing, and manufacturing. Under the proposal, regulated PV panels supplied in NSW would be covered, and the funding would support collection, recycling, and resource recovery across the state.
The amount of retiring solar equipment is already significant. NSW has more than 1.18 million rooftop solar systems, and about 15,400 tons (14,000 metric tons) of panel waste is produced each year. That total is projected to climb to 98,100 tons (89,000 metric tons) by 2045 as older systems are phased out and households switch to newer, more efficient technology.
More background
Solar panels reduce emissions while generating power, but the pace of adoption has created a disposal problem that current systems have not caught up with.
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According to the NSW Environment Protection Agency, "Current disposal pathways are insufficient to safely and sustainably manage this growing waste stream."
The agency added, "Most end-of-life PV panels continue to be landfilled, stockpiled or illegally dumped."
What's being done?
NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe said the proposal could create value from recovered materials as well.
"NSW has embraced rooftop solar, and now we're making sure those panels don't become tomorrow's landfill problem," Sharpe said.
Under the proposed rules, the companies that make or import the panels would help finance the collection and processing system.
She added, "Solar panels contain valuable materials that can be recovered and put back to work."
Business groups say a single state cannot fully solve what is effectively a national waste challenge. Smart Energy Council Chief Executive David McElrea said the draft legislation creates a strong foundation for a circular economy, but argued that federal leadership will be needed to avoid a patchwork of rules across Australia.
"NSW is showing leadership, but unless transitioned into a Commonwealth scheme, over 70% of Australia's decommissioned solar panels will remain uncaptured outside NSW," McElrea said. "The federal government has to step up and deliver a national product stewardship framework to provide the scale, consistency, and certainty Australia needs."
Where can I learn more?
Efforts to deal with retired solar panels are already taking shape in several places.
• In Georgia, Qcells is building a solar panel recycling operation alongside US manufacturing expansion.
• In Odessa, Texas, SolarCycle opened a dedicated recycling facility to process retired photovoltaic modules.
• In China, engineers have found a more efficient way to separate and recycle panel materials.
• In Tennessee, TerrePower plans to recycle over 125,000 solar modules each year.
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