The solar industry is one of the fastest-growing energy industries in the global market. The reason is a combination of the falling prices of modules and inverters and increased conversion to fossil-free energy production. When a photovoltaic module reaches the end of its life it needs to be replaced and discarded, which can create a sustainability problem depending on how this is managed. Today, less than 10% of the global photovoltaic waste is recycled. Only the European Union has implemented photovoltaic waste regulations in the form of the WEEE Directive, which requires that 85% of the waste is collected and at least 80% of waste collected must be prepared for reuse or recycling. This master thesis examines the energy technical, economic, and political conditions for a Swedish photovoltaic recycling plant. This is done through a literary study that is enhanced with calculations of future potential waste volumes and their economic value. As an alternative to a Swedish plant, the energy consumption for transporting waste to existing recycling plants in Europe is evaluated. The photovoltaic technologies included in this work are silicon-based mono-and polycrystalline modules, cadmium tellurium (CdTe) and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS). Based on the calculations and the literature study, the energy technical conditions are good and not a barrier for a potential facility, the political conditions are deficient, and regulations need further development. The economic conditions constitute the largest barrier as waste volumes are not large enough for a Swedish facility to be economically profitable until 2042. The energy consumption for transport to existing recycling plants in Europe was 22 MJ/module for silicon-based mono-and polycrystalline modules and 10 MJ/module for CdTe modules. Which is a good alternative to a Swedish plant as collection processes and recycling processes are already in place.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mdh-53341 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Andersson, Stephanie |
| Publisher | Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för ekonomi, samhälle och teknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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