According to the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, my country is projected to begin generating a large volume of decommissioned photovoltaic (PV) modules in 2025; the peak of PV module waste is expected after 2030, reaching approximately 18GW, or about 1.4 million tons; and by 2040, the cumulative waste will reach 253GW, or about 20 million tons. Faced with this impending peak in PV module decommissioning, how prepared is my country’s PV module recycling efforts? What challenges remain to be overcome in the industry?
The Recycling Industry Has Huge Development Potential
PV module recycling refers to the disassembly of PV modules to achieve material recycling and reuse. The core components of PV modules mainly include solar cells, glass, EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer), and backsheets.
“Currently, waste PV modules mainly come from power plants and production facilities. Although some waste modules are generated during transportation, the quantity is very small,” said Xu Junyu, project specialist at the Secretariat of the PV Recycling Industry Development Cooperation Center. Some of these waste modules will end up in the hands of PV recycling companies, while others will be temporarily stored in warehouses until conditions are right for dismantling and processing.
As a new type of solid waste, the harmless treatment and efficient recycling of decommissioned photovoltaic (PV) modules not only offer considerable circular economy benefits but also significant environmental benefits. “From a market perspective, the PV module recycling industry has enormous potential and significant benefits. It is estimated that this market size is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan,” said Yu Xiaoming, senior investment consultant at Shaanxi Jufeng Investment Information Co., Ltd.
At the policy level, efforts to promote PV module recycling have already begun. In July 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Recycling of Decommissioned Wind Power and Photovoltaic Equipment” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), which proposed actively building a recycling system for wind power and photovoltaic equipment covering green design, standardized recycling, high-value utilization, and harmless disposal, thus completing the final link in the green, low-carbon, and circular development of the wind power and photovoltaic industry chain and helping to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
Currently, PV module recycling is entering a stage of accelerated development. Recently, the group standard “Technical Specification for Recycling and Disposal of Retired Photovoltaic Modules,” drafted by the China National Resources Recycling Association and Xinyuan Jinwu (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., passed technical review. This standard aims to standardize the recycling and disposal process of retired photovoltaic modules and promote the healthy development of the industry.
With the formation of the recycling market, the number of participants in the photovoltaic recycling industry is constantly increasing. An employee of Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Jinko Solar”) stated that the company focuses on two aspects for recycling development: first, iterative upgrading of technology and equipment to build technical reserves for compatible recycling of different module models; second, the construction of recycling channels, where the company leverages its own supply chain advantages to maximize the value of recycled materials.
State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) Yellow River Company has been tackling key technologies for the industrialization and localization of equipment in the recycling of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, developing a complete photovoltaic module recycling process technology and industrial equipment. In December 2024, the high-efficiency integrated process technology and localized equipment for the recycling of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, jointly developed by SPIC Yellow River Company and the SPIC Photovoltaic Industry Innovation Center, were selected for the fourth batch of major technological equipment lists in the energy field by the General Office of the National Energy Administration.
The market supply is temporarily insufficient.
Currently, there are quite a few companies offering door-to-door photovoltaic (PV) module recycling services, but most of these companies are small-scale and can only handle local business.
“Collecting PV panels from other provinces is not cost-effective. For example, transporting each panel from Foshan, Guangdong to Suzhou, Jiangsu costs tens of yuan, which doesn’t even cover the cost. We generally only accept orders for more than 500 PV panels, enough to fill a truck,” said a representative from a recycling company in Kunshan, Jiangsu. After collection, the company disassembles the PV panels, and valuable materials such as silicon are sold to companies that need them.
Liang Zhenpeng, chief consultant of Zhifan Coast Agency, believes that profitability is the current predicament facing the PV module recycling industry. On the one hand, the large-scale retirement period has not yet arrived, resulting in insufficient market supply and the lack of a large-scale industrial chain. The costs of dismantling, transporting, and recycling used modules are high. On the other hand, some companies, due to technological limitations, use relatively simple processing methods, leading to significant resource waste.
PV modules have complex structures containing various materials, and the separation and recycling of these materials require efficient technical support. “Especially the processing of fluorinated backsheets, removal of EVA layers, and recovery of precious metals present difficulties,” said Xiang Weili, Executive Director of Sullivan Greater China. He explained that while thermal treatment can achieve material separation, it generates harmful gases, while chemical solvent methods face the problem of treating organic waste liquids.
It is understood that existing technical routes in the photovoltaic module dismantling process mainly include physical methods, pyrolysis chemical methods, and solvent chemical methods. Physical methods are relatively simple to operate, but the purity of the separated materials is relatively low. Chemical methods, while yielding components with higher purity than physical methods, consume other materials during the process. To improve recycling efficiency, combining physical and chemical methods in a certain way has become an important direction for the development of the photovoltaic module recycling industry.
Currently, the development of photovoltaic module recycling and processing technologies mainly focuses on crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules. The key to recycling and utilizing waste photovoltaic modules lies in recovering rare metals and valuable materials, reducing resource waste, and minimizing environmental pollution. Harmful substances such as lead, sulfuric acid, cadmium, and tin, if not properly handled, can have serious environmental impacts.
It is noteworthy that the industry currently suffers from rampant illegal recycling and dismantling. Small-scale recycling workshops, exempt from environmental processing costs, can offer higher prices for used modules, making it difficult for legitimate recycling companies to profit and disrupting market order.
“To reverse the crude and simplistic processing model of small workshops, photovoltaic module recycling companies need to possess the corresponding qualifications and technical capabilities. Recycling and dismantling must follow scientific and standardized processes to ensure reliability and safety,” said Liang Zhenpeng.
The lack of policy and standards constraints is also a significant factor hindering the development of the photovoltaic module recycling industry. In terms of standards and assessment, there is a lack of a comprehensive module recycling and processing standard system, and supporting systems such as market guidance and incentive policies need further improvement. “The definition of photovoltaic module scrapping is unclear. There are still some gaps in technology, standards, and management policies in the cycle from scrapping to dismantling, decomposition, and reuse,” a Jinko Solar employee told reporters.
Unblocking recycling channels is urgent.
To achieve the healthy development of the photovoltaic module recycling industry, unblocking recycling channels is urgently needed.
The “Opinions” propose that by 2025, a basic responsibility mechanism for the disposal of decommissioned equipment from centralized wind farms and photovoltaic power stations will be established, relevant standards and specifications for the recycling of decommissioned wind and photovoltaic equipment will be further improved, and breakthroughs will be achieved in key technologies for resource recycling. By 2030, a complete recycling technology system for wind and photovoltaic equipment will be basically mature, resource recycling models will be more sound, resource recycling capacity will be effectively matched with the scale of decommissioning, standards and specifications will be more complete, the level of resource recycling in the wind and photovoltaic industry will be significantly improved, and a number of industrial clusters for the recycling of decommissioned wind and photovoltaic equipment will be formed.
While promoting the development of the photovoltaic industry, various regions are also actively exploring development paths for the photovoltaic module recycling industry, promoting the green development of the photovoltaic recycling industry through policy guidance, technological innovation, and industrial collaboration.
Establishing a sound recycling system is crucial. Xiang Weili suggests supporting photovoltaic equipment manufacturers to establish photovoltaic module recycling warehouses by region through various models such as independent recycling, joint recycling, or entrusted recycling, and adopting an online monitoring model of “Internet + photovoltaic module recycling” to track and statistically analyze the number of decommissioned photovoltaic modules from each power generation company each year. Meanwhile, the application of big data, IoT, and cloud computing technologies in the recycling system is encouraged to make the recycling process measurable, reportable, and verifiable.
Furthermore, the active participation of photovoltaic (PV) companies is crucial. “With the development of the PV industry and technological advancements, more and more companies are beginning to focus on the full lifecycle management of PV modules and are attempting to establish corresponding recycling systems,” said Yu Fenghui, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank.
Xu Junyu believes that support should be given to PV end-user owners to lead the establishment of new recycling systems for waste PV products. For large-scale centralized PV power plants, a reverse logistics recycling system should be established based on sales, logistics, and operation and maintenance networks; for distributed PV, pilot projects for independent recycling should be carried out in industrial parks, towns, and transportation hubs, using “Internet+” to improve the standardized recycling rate.
“With continuous technological progress and increasing market demand, industry concentration will gradually increase, which will prompt relevant companies to achieve more significant results in technological innovation, resource utilization, and environmental protection, promoting the sustainable development of the PV industry.”
