Recycling ‘end-of-life’ solar panels and wind turbines is about to be climate tech’s big waste business.
KEY POINTS
- As the Biden administration pushes for more wind power and solar energy, renewable energy industries will soon generate tons of waste.
- A wind turbine is recyclable, from the steel tower to the composite blades, typically 170 feet (52 m) long, but most ends up being thrown away, a waste total that will reach a cumulative mass of 2.2 million metric tonnes by 2050.
- Currently, about 90% of end-of-life or defective solar panels also end up in landfills, largely because it costs far less to dump them than to recycle them.
- “We have done a phenomenal job making solar efficient and cost-effective, but really have not done anything yet on making it circular and dealing with the end-of-life,” says Solarcycle CEO Suvi Sharma.
Twitter comments
Mark Jacobson said:
Recycling ‘end-of-life’ solar panels, wind turbines, is about to be climate tech’s big waste business.
BF Nagy of Climate Solutions said:
Solarcycle in Calif extracts 95% materials from solar panels.
Knoxville’s Carbon Rivers shreds & recycles turbine blades.
Missouri’s Veolia has processed 2,600 blades.
Li-Cycle breaks down batteries in Alabama, Arizona, NY & Ontario.
Redwood Materials doing same in Nevada.