Recycling strategies to enhance the commercial viability of CIS photovoltaics

Abstract

Recycling of photovoltaic (PV) modules at the end of their useful life is important for the success of commercializing PV technologies. There are economic, regulatory and technical issues related to recycling; these are addressed here in a case study of recycling CuInSe3 (CIS) PV modules, which is focused on: economics of the use and re-use of materials; regulations on environmental disposal and waste handling; logistics and economics of recycling and disposing of products by industries faced with comparable environmental issues; and a workable program of the PV industry of the future. The main conclusions are that there are potential regulatory hurdles but these can be overcome by paying attention to module design elements. In the case of large installations, collection of decommissioned PV modules is feasible with current infrastructure, whereas collection from small remote installations is problematic. Collecting and consolidating used PV modules will be simplified if modules are returned to the manufacturer or to a contracted recycling center as 'products' destined for refurbishment and/or re-use. The projected cost of recycling CIS PV modules ranges from 0 to 0.08 US$ W-1, depending on the specific methods, participants and regulations of recycling.