Recycling of thin-film PV modules (Case of FirstSolar Inc.)
Recycling of thin-film PV modules (Case of FirstSolar Inc.) The first entry to the blog is about a report I wrote with a classmate of mine Carina back in January 2018. It was in scope of the MS43315 Recycling Engineering Materials which dealt with the technicalities of the end-of-life (EoL) phase of metals, the challenges in product complexity, implementing a product-centric approach, etc. As part of the evaluation a study case had to be done concerning the study of the recycling potential and barriers of a complex industrial product. We chose thin-film CdTe modules due to their promising expansion in the solar market. Our conclusion were: Dedicated recycling facilities with a product-centric approach lead to higher end-of-life recycling rates (EoL RR) for complex products. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and all that such legislation entails (Design for Recycling, etc.) are good governance mechanisms to improve the RI of the products in our economy. When producer
