Dead Solar Panels Are About To Become a Lot More Valuable

In the coming years, recyclers will hopefully be able to mine billions of dollars worth of materials from discarded solar panels, according to a new analysis published this week. From a report: That should ease bottlenecks in the supply chain for solar panels while also making the panels themselves more sustainable. Right now, most dead solar panels in the US just get shredded or chucked into a landfill. The economics just don't shake out in recycling's favor. The value you can squeeze out of a salvaged panel hasn't been enough to make up for the cost of transporting and recycling it. That's on track to change, according to the recent analysis by research firm Rystad Energy. Rystad expects the value of recyclable materials from solar panels to grow exponentially over the next several years, ballooning to $2.7 billion in 2030 from just $170 million this year. That's thanks to a growing demand for solar coupled with an anticipated pinch in the materials needed to make panels. Technological advancements are also making it easier to extract more valuable materials from old panels, making recycling a sweeter deal financially. Currently, solar energy makes up just over 3 percent of the global electricity mix. But the world's energy systems are at the start of a drastic makeover to bring more renewable energy online.

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