The Danish renewables big is partnering with Texas-based SOLARCYCLE to recycle all of Ørsted‘s end-of-life US photo voltaic panels.

Ørsted’s dedication to reuse or recycle 100% of end-of-life photo voltaic panels is a primary within the photo voltaic business. 

Ørsted signed a recycling contract in 2021 with First Photo voltaic for thin-film modules. SOLARCYCLE opened its recycling middle in Odessa, Texas, in 2022. 

Whereas Ørsted’s US photo voltaic initiatives are nonetheless in early levels, it’s already recycled 4,000 panels. Its settlement with SOLARCYCLE signifies that Ørsted will now have a recycling plan for crystalline silicon (c-Si) photo voltaic modules – in order that signifies that all of Ørsted’s initiatives will now have recycling protection. 

Ørsted introduced right now that it’s going to make investments $68 billion to put in 50 gigawatts of renewable energy capability – that’s photo voltaic and wind – by 2030.

Recycling photo voltaic panels

Recycling photo voltaic panels domestically will create a provide of supplies wanted to make new photo voltaic panels, together with glass, silicon, and helpful metals equivalent to silver, copper, and aluminum. This reduces waste and the quantity of uncooked sources wanted to be mined, which then must be extracted and refined.

SOLARCYCLE’s recycling know-how can extract 95% of the worth from photo voltaic panels. The corporate evaluates whether or not an end-of-life panel can be utilized secondhand onsite, and if it might’t be, then it will get recycled. The aluminum body and junction field are eliminated, the glass is delaminated, and the remaining panel is shredded.

Invaluable metals equivalent to silver and copper are recovered, and plastics are separated out. SOLARCYCLE returns supplies again to the provision chain, together with to US photo voltaic producers.

The Nationwide Renewable Power Laboratory present in 2022 that for some supplies, recycling can meet a minimum of 25-30% of home photo voltaic manufacturing wants within the US by 2040.

Learn extra: The primary US-built offshore wind substation is crusing to New York

Photograph: Solarcycle

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