The Australian Research Council (ARC) Hub for Photovoltaic Solar Panel Recycling and Sustainability was officially opened at UNSW yesterday.
It's the first research initiative in Australia dedicated to developing a circular solar economy, and funded by a $5 million grant from ARC’s Industrial Transformation Research program.
UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise, Professor Bronwyn Fox, said photovoltaic waste in Australia is predicted to reach 100,000 tonnes annually by 2030.
“This Hub brings together world-leading Australian engineers, scientists, policy makers and industry to transform end-of-life solar panels from an emerging waste challenge into a valuable resource, helping build a circular economy and strengthening Australia’s clean energy leadership,” Fox said.
Hub Director Professor Yansong Shen, an expert in ‘green’ metals from the School of Chemical Engineering, said there was an urgent need for a strong solar panel recycling industry, as many of Australia’s 3.5 million solar installations would reach end-of-life in the next decade.
“End-of-life solar panels contain many valuable materials like glass, silicon, silver and copper. Our goal is to move these panels away from landfill and towards recycling in a circular economy where materials are recovered and reused,” he said.
Initiatives already underway at the Hub include finding better ways to recover valuable materials from old solar panels, developing improved technologies to separate and sort panel components more efficiently and redesigning panels so they’re easier to recycle.
“We will know we’ve achieved our objectives when solar panel waste is no longer seen as a problem, but as part of a sustainable system,” Yansong said.
Opening the Hub, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Matt Thistlethwaite, said the stakes are real.
“If we get this right, there will be less landfill, new domestic supply chains for current materials, a more resilient energy sector, and perhaps most importantly, for students and early career researchers, new industries and new jobs that probably don't exist yet,” Thistlethwaite said.