There are a number of potential environmental and health impacts of large-scale solar panels currently being studied. A common concern is the potential for leaching of panel components that might impact water quality. PFAS contamination in particular is commonly a concern raised around leaching, although PFAS is not typically used in solar panels and studies have not shown PFAS contamination or any related issues in panels. Other potential risks include pollution from manufacturing, fire risks, breakage risks, and improper disposal of modules.
The North Carolina State University's Clean Energy Technology Center recently conducted a review of the latest research on many of these concerns to create a comprehensive guide on the safety of utility-scale solar. Regarding the potential for breakages and leaching, the study found that because the hazardous components of solar panels are enclosed within ethylene-vinyl acetate (the plastic material that prevents car windshields from shattering), solar panels are highly resistant to most weather events and chemical leaching from a cracked solar panel is unlikely. Additionally, past laboratory testing by the EPA has indicated that even when this protective enclosure is purposely broken, most modern solar panels do not leach toxic materials at a level that would classify them as hazardous waste.
There is still much research being conducted on these potential risks and impacts. Task 12 is an international research group, part of the Photovoltaic Powers System Programme (PVPS) at the International Energy Agency (IEA), focused on questions of these environmental health impacts. The group recently published two studies that project the impacts of a worst-case scenario solar panel breakage and an improper disposal of a decommissioned module in order to better understand overall health concerns. Their projections indicate that even in the worst potential panel breakage, the air, soil and groundwater that surround a broken module would still meet the United States Environmental Protection Agency's safety standards, and even solar panels disposed of in the most improperly managed landfills should not present any cancerous or non-cancerous health risks to neighboring populations.