Surging Solar Panel Waste Met with New Recycling Technologies

[Anchor]

As solar power generation surges, related waste, including retired solar panels, is also increasing significantly. Because key minerals can be extracted from such waste, the importance of recycling technology is growing, and alternative solutions utilizing new technologies are emerging one after another.

Senior Climate and Environment Reporter Jang Se-man reports from the field.

[Reporter]

A 15-year-old solar power plant.

Demolition work is underway to recycle aging panels.

The problem is that recycling regulations are strict.

Due to concerns over pollutant emissions, tasks such as dismantling and disassembling panels are prohibited on-site.

Because panels must be transported without removing their subsidiary materials, their volume increases, which in turn raises transportation costs and sometimes leads to them being abandoned.

Under these circumstances, end-of-life waste panels are pouring in.

The amount of processed waste panels, which stood at 152 tons in 2023, has surged to 2,300 tons this year, a massive 15-fold increase in just three years.

As the mounting volume of solar waste is poised to become an escalating headache, new recycling alternatives are being introduced to counter it.

Equipment fills the cargo compartment of a large trailer, representing a mobile facility that visits solar power plants to recycle waste panels directly on-site.

Although previously prohibited under the Wastes Control Act, the first operation took place this week thanks to a regulatory sandbox granting temporary exemptions.

[Lee Sang-heon / CEO, Wonkwang S&T : When processed on-site, transportation costs can be reduced to about one-sixth. Recycling rates will also increase now.]

Recycling technologies are also advancing.

Previously, the upper glass layer and lower solar cell panel of a solar panel were crushed together, resulting in lower purity when extracting minerals.

In contrast, a newly introduced technology separates the glass layer by slicing it off with a blade, much like filleting.

By detaching and crushing only the solar cell panels separately, the extraction rates of minerals such as silver and copper increase four to fivefold, boosting economic viability.

[Lee Jin-seok / Researcher, Korea Institute of Energy Research : Because we can separate the glass without damaging it, we can recover high-purity glass free of impurities.]

Research into recycling using high voltage or lasers is also drawing attention to reduce air pollution and energy consumption associated with high-temperature pyrolysis methods.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video Reporter: Bae Moon-san | Video Editing: Kim Yoon-sung | VJ: Shin So-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.