A new photovoltaic (PV) industry association, PV Cycle has set up a program to facilitate PV module recycling at end-of-life.
In the future, the PV industry will voluntarily take back defective or used solar modules to recycle and recover valuable materials as appropriate.
In July, a group of PV solar companies founded the ‘European Association for the Recovery of Photovoltaic Modules AISBL’, known in short as PV CYCLE. The Association will develop and introduce a European-wide collection, recycling and recovery system. The member companies committed themselves to take responsibility for the end-of-life treatment to their products.
The Association will create a waste management policy for the industry, guaranteeing the highest economically feasible collection and recovery rates as well as appropriate treatment of waste PV modules.
The voluntary take back system will go into effect in 2008. PV CYCLE members will, in working groups, establish and document best practices for photovoltaic waste. In addition, the Association will support research projects on this topic. The companies’ joint aim is to achieve the highest possible reusability quota across the lifecycle of a photovoltaic module.
The Association was set up by solar energy companies Avancis, Conergy, Isofoton, SCHOTT Solar, Solarworld and Sulfurcell Solartechnik as well as the German Solar Business Association (BSW) and the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA). Other companies and associations have since joined.
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