The Scale is Large and the Economy is not Ideal yet! When will the Commercialization of Photovoltaic Module Recycling Come?

On December 8, the China Environmental Protection Machinery Industry Association held the 8th China Environmental Protection Equipment Summit Forum in Beijing with the theme of “Carbon Reduction and Pollution Reduction to Promote High-Quality Development of Environmental Protection Equipment”. Zhou Quanfa believes that the market for decommissioned photovoltaic modules is large, but the economics of recycling are currently not ideal. Zhou Quanfa pointed out, “If companies want to get involved in this industry, they must make arrangements as early as possible.”

On December 8, the China Environmental Protection Machinery Industry Association held the 8th China Environmental Protection Equipment Summit Forum in Beijing with the theme of “Carbon Reduction and Pollution Reduction to Promote High-Quality Development of Environmental Protection Equipment”.
As the upstream of the environmental protection industry chain, the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry is the foundation and guarantee for realizing pollution control and low-carbon transformation. The reporter noticed that how to achieve high-quality development of the environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry has become the focus of discussion among experts attending the meeting.

When Zhou Quanfa, a foreign academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, gave a speech on “Resource Utilization of Retired Photovoltaic Modules and Deep Processing of Non-ferrous Metals”, he discussed the prosperity of the photovoltaic industry and the immature status of the recycling market for retired photovoltaic modules.

“The installed capacity of retired photovoltaic modules is increasing year by year. If the life of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules is calculated as 25 years, the number of retired photovoltaic modules will reach approximately 20 million tons by 2050.” Zhou Quanfa believes that the “Warring States Era” of the retired photovoltaic module market Coming soon.

In recent years, my country’s photovoltaic power generation has shown rapid development. Data from the National Energy Administration shows that in the first half of 2023, 78.42 million kilowatts of photovoltaic power were added to the grid nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 154%, of which 37.46 million kilowatts of centralized photovoltaic power generation, a year-on-year increase of 234%, and 40.96 million kilowatts of distributed photovoltaic power generation, a year-on-year increase 108%. As of the end of June 2023, the country’s installed photovoltaic power generation capacity reached 470 million kilowatts, including 272 million kilowatts of centralized photovoltaics and 198 million kilowatts of distributed photovoltaics.

China has become the world’s largest photovoltaic application market. Photovoltaic modules have a certain service life, generally 25 to 30 years. It has been more than ten years since China’s first large-scale photovoltaic production was put into production. Therefore, with the large-scale application of photovoltaics, decommissioned photovoltaic modules have also become the focus of social discussion.

The recycling of decommissioned moduels s is the “last mile” of the green chain of the photovoltaic industry, and my country’s photovoltaic equipment recycling market is in its early stages.

“For example, the problem of disassembly is a big problem.” Zhou Quanfa pointed out that there are seven or eight layers of structure in a photovoltaic module. Therefore, to recycle retired photovoltaic module resources and control pollution, a core issue is how to make multiple Layers of tight structure material separation and element circulation. “If wet processing of photovoltaic modules is used, there are several innovations or technical points in each link.” “In addition to the problem of dismantling in the factory, how to transport photovoltaic modules from power stations, seas, and distributed rooftops to the dismantling factory is another problem.” Zhou Quanfa said.

In addition to the technical aspects, the difficulties faced by the decommissioned photovoltaic module industry also include obstacles to commercial development. Zhou Quanfa believes that the market for decommissioned photovoltaic modules is large, but the economics of recycling are currently not ideal. Zhou Quanfa pointed out, “If companies want to get involved in this industry, they must make arrangements as early as possible.”