We Need To Put A Price On Used Solar

Solar has a bit of a waste issue presently. With extraordinary growth in both installations and system size, millions of panels are set to come off the roof in the next few years.

So, can we solve the problem? Yes, with just one word, pricing.

Word is that a lot of solar panels are languishing out of service, literally stacked behind suburban sheds or piling up on pallets around your installer’s yard. At best, they are not doing anyone much good, and at worst, they pose an injury and pollution risk.

Despite a few false starts, solar recycling really needs some direction. We have to get on with it because throwing them into shipping containers to Afghanistan to grow poppies for heroin isn’t a sustainable answer.

Why Are Used Solar Panels Worthless?

The value of used solar is down for a few reasons. Firstly, solar has just been getting cheaper forever. I remember first-hand when solar was $5/Watt, a Sunpower 215W module cost $1075 plus tax & freight. This afternoon I can buy a Jinko 440W on runout for 21cents/Watt. That’s a module with more than double the output, for $94 apiece.

Just bear in mind that while solar has just about always fallen in price, word around the traps is that China is winding back a 9% export incentive, and the price of solar panels may soon go up a little as a result.

This also means the secondary market for used solar panels sent overseas is evaporating. If freight costs are equal, developing countries might buy new panels for 10c/Watt, so a used SunPower 215 is hardly worth $5 here – in fact, salvage buyers won’t touch them unless they’re 250W or more.

The RET Puts A Premium On New Solar

The renewable energy target incentivises new panels. The 200 largest polluters in the country are obliged to buy the environmental goodness created by installing solar, and thus not burning coal. The subsidy makes new panels very cheap, but tapers off about 7% per year out to 2030. We should be proud of the scheme’s success – but it does put a premium on new solar over reused panels.

Solar Installers Are Risk Averse

1, 2 and 3kW arrays are now routinely being replaced with systems ten times the size. While newer panels are fine, older arrays and wiring aren’t always compliant, and installers don’t want to offer a warranty on some rubbish they didn’t install. The reputational and financial risk is too great – besides, the space on the roof is coveted.

Solar Recycling Logistics Are Expensive

Government-funded trials have already identified that logistics are the costly part of the problem. I know this because I’ve stripped old systems and packaged the panels for transport. We did it properly, so the modules weren’t damaged in transit because a school roof would yield a lot of domestic warranty repairs. However, it’s expensive with first-world labour rates, especially if they’re all different sizes and sources.

Tossing them into a skip and tipping it into a hopper isn’t cheap either, but time is money, so pragmatically this will be the way a majority(?) of panels will go in our incredibly wasteful first-world economies.

Valuable Resources To Recover From Solar

• Older panels are said to have a teaspoon of silver in each one, something we have a real deficit of
• Copper is in high demand
• Aluminium recycling saves so much energy, it’s often called solidified electricity
• Low iron glass will save tonnes of sand

Remember, kids, punctuation saves lives – or at least heinous injuries to your feet.

Solar Reuse Means Certifying For Sale

Anything damaged or pre 2013 fire standards would simply be recycled, but with so much energy invested in manufacturing solar panels, it makes most sense to reuse them instead of just grinding them up.

Again, first-world labour rates are our enemy. Even if they were given away, stewardship means panels must be physically inspected and electrically tested. It wouldn’t be hard to run a “tag ‘n test” training program and test machine to make it simple, but I’d hate to see the idea die in the hands of standards committees.

I’d expect good quality panels could go well for testing and reuse locally. Even at a decade old, you could stack usable panels in containers and electrify remote villages in PNG, for instance.

We Should Copy SA’s Container Deposit Scheme

Half a century ago, South Australia basically ended beverage container waste after university protesters successfully pressured the state government into a deposit scheme. For decades, collecting cans has put money into the hands of kids or the homeless. Making waste worth something gave the Scouts & other community groups a reliable way to raise cash from households and hospitality by donating containers.

I recall firsthand when 40c soft drinks had a 5c deposit, which doubled in 2008. Keeping pace these days would mean a $3 can should attract 37.5c?

South Australia has a sustainable system because the waste stream is sorted. It’s not kerbside recycling full of co-mingled rubbish, so there is real demand. People pay for a clean supply of plastic, cardboard & glass.

The same scrap yard, bottle depot or marine store operation we already have just needs a bay for solar gear. Framing, stainless hardware, inverters and eventually batteries too – though they’ll be tougher to handle properly.

Drive in here, empty your bags, boxes & bins and let the sorting begin.

These guys count, sort, remove lids & pitch containers left, right and center to land in bins, bags & conveyors.

$10 A Pop Would Do It

At the moment, secondhand solar is pretty worthless, but giving something a dollar value means people will take an interest in what happens to them. Nobody collects drink cans for the scrap aluminium value of 1 cent each, but the meth heads will strip copper plumbing and wiring from your community hall for $8/kilo, so we need to pick a number in between.

The value must be enough that country folk will throw a load on when they come to town, but not lucrative enough to make theft attractive.

Like old car batteries, used solar panels will come out of the woodwork if we simply put a reasonable bounty on them, which probably needs to be built into the initial purchase price going forward. Scouts, Guides, Rotary Clubs, Men’s Sheds could all play a part in rounding up, reusing and recycling this hardware; we just need some realistic rules to work to.

For more, read about the national inquiry into solar panel recycling and the pilot scheme for recycled panels.