Engineers of a sustainable future

PVRecycling was established in 2019 by industry experts in electronic waste management to address a growing environmental challenge—how to properly handle solar panels, inverters, and power storage units at the end of their lifespan or when decommissioned early for system upgrades.

Research from the Harvard Business Review warns that premature replacements will accelerate the accumulation of solar waste “far sooner and more dramatically than current estimates suggest.” Adding to this urgency, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is expected to drive solar adoption at an even faster rate, compounding the waste issue.

At PVRecycling, we are committed to eliminating waste and reducing costs through our zero net waste and zero net cost strategy. By refurbishing reusable solar panels and responsibly recycling non-functional units, we provide a sustainable solution for managing solar energy system waste.

A Harvard Business Review case study highlights projections from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which indicate that “significant volumes of annual solar waste will emerge by the early 2030s,” potentially reaching 78 million tons by 2050. However, Harvard’s research suggests that widespread early replacements could generate up to 50 times more waste in just four years than IRENA predicts. Based on an estimated weight-to-power ratio of 90 tons per MW, this scenario translates to roughly 315,000 metric tons of discarded materials.

These numbers, concerning as they are, may only scratch the surface of the issue. Current estimates primarily focus on residential solar installations, but when factoring in commercial and industrial solar systems, the volume of waste from premature replacements is likely to be significantly higher.