Sustainable Photovoltaics

News

The consequences of the PV boom: HI ERN study analyses recycling strategies for solar modules

Photovoltaics is an important pillar of the energy transition. However, the expected PV ramp-up will tie up large quantities of resources. Circular recycling strategies are necessary in order to avoid waste streams in the future that are of the order of magnitude of today's global electronic waste. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at HI ERN in a study published in the renowned scientific journal Joule.

International collaboration: Visit to the Yangtze Institute for Solar Technology (YIST) in China

Impressions of the visit to the Yangtze Institute for Solar Technology (YIST) in China: Dr. Ian Marius Peters took part in a workshop on the reliability of photovoltaics and visited production facilities of Trina, Tongwei and Longi.

Mastering the recycling flood

In the coming years, many photovoltaic systems and wind turbines around the world will be thrown away due to their age. But the raw materials they contain are far too valuable for that. They could also be fed into the circular economy. In the current issue of "effzett", HI ERN researcher Dr. Ian Marius Peters and other scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich explain the creative approaches they are taking.

The unsolved problem: HI ERN physicist Dr Ian Marius Peters on the difficult recycling of solar cells on spektrum.de

The rising demand for renewable energy has led to a massive increase in the production of photovoltaic modules. But what happens to the solar cells and the valuable raw materials they contain when they reach the end of their service life? In the article recently published on spektrum.de, Dr. Ian Marius Peters explains his circular approach.

Press release

The consequences of the PV boom: HI ERN study analyses recycling strategies for solar modules

Mastering the recycling flood

The unsolved problem: HI ERN physicist Dr Ian Marius Peters on the difficult recycling of solar cells on spektrum.de

Press release

The consequences of the PV boom: HI ERN study analyses recycling strategies for solar modules

Our mission

„Solar panels are built to last forever. But instead, they should actually be made for an eternal cycle. A circular process modeled on nature would be ideal: In a forest, the leaves fall from the trees - on the ground they decompose and thus provide the material for new plants. If we can achieve this in photovoltaics, we could develop renewable energy further - into truly sustainable energy. This is what we are researching."

^{Dr. Ian Marius Peters,
Head of Team"}^{High Throughput Characterization and Modelling for PV}^"

Sustainable photovoltaics: From design for eternity to design for the eternal cycle

Why do we need circular recycling for photovoltaics?

We need circular recycling to overcome the resource challenges with photovoltaics (PV) at terrawatt level. The current recycling of PV modules is not truly circular in practice. Solution-fabricated perovskite solar cells offer new opportunities for recycling that are not available to conventional silicon solar cells. Our process involves the production of reference cells and dummy modules for recycling. The recycled material is used for the production of new solar cells. We can recycle all components of a perovskite solar cell (with MaPbI3) without loss of efficiency, which is currently around 18%. The challenges are degraded material and very thin layers.

How can we master the challenge?

Our process involves producing reference cells and dummy modules for recycling and using the recycled material to produce new solar cells. We can recycle all components of a perovskite solar cell (with MaPbI3) without losing the current efficiency of around 18 %. The challenges lie in degraded material and very thin layers.