8. Recycling and End of Life of PV Technologies

The end of life of photovoltaic systems will require adequate strategies at a global level when the massive amount of modules that have been deployed in recent years reaches the end of its operational life and will have to be dismantled and treated as electronic waste. According to estimations, up to 800 thousand tonnes in 2020 and more than 7 billion tonnes in 2030 of PV modules will reach its end of life. Different options can be considered: reuse of modules that still deliver enough power, recycling of modules and recovery of parts or materials, land-filling, or a combination of them. Techniques to recycle silicon and thin film modules are already available and implemented in several recycling plants, but still with low capacity and low percentage of recovered materials. Improved techniques, regulations and logistics for end of life of PV systems and further research and development are strongly needed. These advances may lead to a feedback from recycling strategies to original manufacture lines that should incorporate “design for recycling” approaches that reduce end of life impacts and maximizes materials and components recovery.