ENABLING A VIRTUOUS
CYCLE

LIFE CYCLE
MANAGEMENT IN
PHOTOVOLTAICSOUTLINE
1. Introduction to First Solar
2. Life Cycle Management in Photovoltaics – IEA & IRENA
3. A Short History of PV Recycling at First Solarovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

4. Life Cycle Benefits of High Value Recycling2

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SOLARFIRST SOLAR AT A GLANCEOver 17GW sold worldwide andover $14.5B in project financing facilitatedPartner of choice for leading utilities
and global power buyers since 1999
Solar energy that is economicallyStrongest financial stability &bankability in the industry

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

competitive with fossil fuel4

FIRST SOLAR AT A GLANCE
History of solar innovation with world

record efficiency

High-efficiency technology with a provenenergy advantage

generating clean electricity withNO carbon emissions or air pollutants

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

Lowest environmental impacts

5

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

GLOBAL OFFICES & MANUFACTURING

6

“We create enduring
value for our customers
through innovation,customer engagement,
industry leadership andoperational excellence.”— Mark Widmar
First Solar CEOovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

TRUSTED AND BANKABLE PARTNER

7

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

17GW+ SOLD WORLDWIDE8

LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT IN
PHOTOVOLTAICS – IEA & IRENACHALLENGES ANDOPPORTUNITIESAndreas Wade (IEA-PVPS Task 12), Stephanie Weckend (IRENA), Garvin Heath (IEAPVPS)
Contributors
Dr. Karsten Wambach (bifa Umweltinstitut), Tabaré A. Currás (WWF), Knut Sander(ökopol)
IEA-PVPS Task 12: Zhang Jia, Keiichi Komoto, Dr. Parikhit Sinha
IRENA: Henning Wuester, Rabia Ferroukhi, Nicolas Fichaux, Asiyah Al Ali, Deger
Saygin, Salvatore Vinci, Nicholas Wagner

KEY FINDINGS
Growing PV panel waste represents a new environmental challenge,
but also unprecedented opportunities to create and pursue new
economic avenues.
This report presents global projections for future PV panel waste
volumes to 2050 in two scenarios.
Policy action, R&D and supporting analyses are needed to address thechallenges ahead; enabling frameworks can be adapted to the needs
and circumstances of each region or country.
End-of-life management could become a significant component of thePV value chain and can spawn new industries, supporting considerable
economic value creation.

KEY FINDINGS
Lessons can be learned from the experience of the European Union indeveloping its regulatory framework to help other countries move up
the learning curve faster and adapt locally-appropriate approaches.
Considerable technological and operational knowledge about PV panel
end-of-life management already exists in many countries. This canguide the development of effective waste management solutions,
helping to address the projected large increase in PV panel waste.

GLOBAL PV PANEL WASTE
PROJECTION 2016-2050
The world‘s total e-waste reached a record of41.8 million metric tonnes in 2014. Annual PV
waste was 1000x less in the same year. Yet by2050, the PV panel waste added annualy
could exceed 10% of the record global ewaste added in 2014.

CUMULATIVE PV WASTE:
TOP 5 REGIONS 2050

POTENTIAL VALUE CREATION

Cumulative Value Creation:

Cumulative Value Creation:

INNOVATION OPPORTUNITIESAs R&D and technological advances
continue with a maturing industry, thecomposition of PV panels is expected torequire less raw materials.
Rapid global PV growth is expected togenerate a robust secondary market forpanel components and materials.
As current PV installations reach the final
decommissioning stage, recycling andmaterial recovery will be preferable topanel disposal.

PV PANEL COMPOSITION AND
WASTE CLASSIFICATIONPANEL COMPOSITION &TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
C-SiThin Film

WASTE CLASSIFICATION
INERT
WASTE

HAZARDOUS
WASTE
GENERALWASTE

E-WASTEINDUSTRIAL
WASTE

NON-HAZARDOUS WASTE

All PV Panel technologies containtrace amounts of hazardous
materials such as lead, tin, zinc,cadmium,selenium,indium,gallium and others.
Depending on the jurisdiction,different waste characterization
tests and methods can lead todifferent classifications of PV panel
waste.
Typically, standardized leaching
tests and material concentration
limits determine the classificationand minimum requirements fortreatment and disposal.

PV PANEL WASTE MANAGEMENTOPTIONS

LIFE CYCLE & STAKEHOLDERS

Producer

Distributor

Customer

Recycler

MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
There are a variety of options for
end-of-life management structures
andfinancialresponsibility:
Extended Producer Responsibility,
Polluter-Pays-Principle,PublicPrivate-Partnerships, B2B & B2Csolutions.
Physicalandfinancial
management systems

Minimum Requirements & High
Value Recycling

CASE STUDIESCASE STUDIES span range ofmarket and recycling
infrastructure maturity

GERMANY –a mature market

Germany will clearly be one of
the first and largest markets
for PV recycling technologies
in coming years.

JAPAN –advanced market without PV
specific waste regulations
A PV pioneer market withrecentrapidgrowthpotentially leading to a large
increase in waste by 2040.

VALUE CREATION FROM END-OFLIFE PV PANELSRECYCLE – example processes for
CdTe and C-Si

Recycling Scheme proposed by NEDO/FAIS in JapanFirst Solar Recycling Process

MATERIALS RECOVERY
Cumulative technical potential for end-of-life material recovery under regular-loss
scenario.

2030

SHORT HISTORY OF PV RECYCLING

Graphs taken from European Commission, EASME, https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/news/r2-supporting-transition-circular-economy ; Wecend, Wade, Heath, et.al. End of Life Management:
Photovoltaic Panels, IRENA, IEA PVPS Task 12, 2016

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

THE ENERGY TRANSITION – CIRCULAR ECONOMY NEXUS

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ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

PATHWAYS TO A CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOR PV SYSTEMS MATERIALS

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A SHORT HISTORY OF PV RECYCLINGÖkopol Study(2007)PV CYCLE(2007)

WEEE Directive(2012)

EN50625: PV
RecyclingStandard(2017)

Binding
Treatment
Ordinance inGermany(2019)

Enabling a level playing field for the collection, treatment and recycling of photovoltaic panels in the EU has
accelerated the learning curve for the industry. To ensure further progress and enable a sustainable recycling andrecovery value chain, a viable secondary resource market outlet is of paramount importance.

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

First Global
Collection andRecycling
Program (2005)33

Material Sourcing

Product Design

Manufacturing

Product Use

Collection & Recycling

Converting mining
byproducts into astable semiconductor

Designed for highvalue recycling

Manufacturing withless energy, water,and GHG emissions

Faster CO2 reductions
and greater return onenergy invested

Recovering over 90% ofmaterials at end-of-life
for new PV modules

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

FULLY INTEGRATED RESPONSIBLE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE APPROACH

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WHY DOES HIGH-VALUE PV RECYCLING MATTER?
Crucial to managing large future PV waste volumes

PV Installed Worldwide (GW)300

Recycling is important for all PV technologies

250— Environmentally sensitive materials are common
in the industry (Pb, Cd, In, Se, Ag…)
Provides socio-economic and environmental benefits

227

200

177

139150— Minimizes life cycle impacts

100— Reclaims valuable and energy intensivematerials

50— Creates jobs and economic benefits

270

0100
70
45723
9 1640— Recoverable value could exceed $15bn by 2050
REN21, Renewables Global Status Report, 2016.

Recycling maximizes resource recovery and increases the sustainability of PV.

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

— Over 300 GW PV installed worldwide

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Exhibit 1: Photovoltaic Module Recycling Value Chain

Source: RECORD/ ENEA Consulting, 2012

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

PV RECYCLING VALUE CHAIN

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FIRST SOLAR’S RECYCLING PROCESS DESIGN PROGRESSION
V1 Recycling (2006)••

Based on the mining industry
Batch process
Moving glass and liquid fromprocess to process
Volume output – 10 tons/day
Capital investment - $5M

•••
•
•

Based on the chemical industry
Batch process
Based on keeping the glass fixed andmoving the liquids thru the material
Volume output – 30 tons/day
Capital investment - $7M

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

•••

V2 Recycling (2011)38

THIRD GENERATION CONTINUOUS PROCESS RECYCLING (2015)• More efficient 7/24 operations• Compact plant with smaller footprint• Increased daily recycling capacity from 30 tons to 150 tons/day capacity• Requires 30% less capital, chemicals, waste and laborovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

• Achieves superior glass and semiconductor purity39

+ 90% Recycling of Semiconductor Material and ~ 90% Recycling of Glassovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

FIRST SOLAR MODULE RECYCLING PROCESS40

GLOBAL AND PROVEN INDUSTRY-LEADING RECYCLING EXPERTISE• 1st global PV module recycling program in the industry• Recycling facilities are operational in the USA, Germany and Malaysia• Scalable to accommodate future high volumes: ~165,000MT recycled (end of ‘16)
• Recovering over 90% of semiconductor materials and approximately 90% of glass

ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

• Continuously improving processes and technology and reducing operational costs

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LIFE CYCLE BENEFITS OF HIGH VALUERECYCLING2.0E-05

Mineral, fossil & ren resource depletion*

1.8E-05

Water resource depletion
Land use

1.6E-05
1.4E-05

1.2E-05

Freshwater ecotoxicity
Marine eutrophication
Freshwater eutrophication
Terrestrial eutrophication

1.0E-05

Acidification

8.0E-06

Photochemical ozone formation

6.0E-06

Ionizing radiation HH
Particulate matter

4.0E-06

Human toxicity, cancer effects

2.0E-06

Human toxicity, non-cancer effects
Ozone depletion

0.0E+00

Climate change*Indium excluded from Average PV [10]ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

Measures that enable and encourage
circular economy and thedecarbonization of the supply chain ofelectricity would help to effectively
relieve some of the major hotspots byaddressing resource depletion (throughrecycled content) and reducing
emissions from fossil-fuel based
electricity generation.

Total weighted environmental impact (Pts/kWh DC)

BENEFITS OF HIGH VALUE RECYCLING43

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ovember 2018 © Copyright First Solar, Inc.

ENABLING MORE SUSTAINABLE PHOTOVOLTAICS