Credit: EDP China has announced a plan to establish a recycling system for retired solar PV panels. In an announcement by the National Development and Reform Commission, China is targeting to build up a mechanism for disposing of decommissioned equipment in solar PV plants by 2025.
In an announcement by the National Development and Reform Commission, China is targeting to build up a mechanism for disposing of decommissioned equipment in solar PV plants by 2025. It is also aiming to improve relevant standards and specifications for the recycling of decommissioned solar PV and wind power equipment.
However, China has specified relevant standards, defined the recycling rates of key materials in waste PV modules, and based on the EPR system, improved the construction of a formal recycling system for waste PV modules.
An estimation for the waste PV modules from 2020 to 2034 in China was proposed on the basis of the governmental institutions development targets in 2025 and 2035, and previous PV installations from 2000 to 2019.
Li's team has invented several types of equipment to disassemble PV modules. One can peel off the components of PV modules layer by layer, while another works like a hot knife to cut through panels with defects.
The institute's projection is in line with that made by Liu's center. According to a white paper it published in January on the recycling and use of solar panel waste, the first batch of solar panels installed in China will start being decommissioned in 2025.