What is a solar module disassembly line?

Developed by Japanese PV equipment provider NPC Incorporated, the solar module disassembly line is claimed to enable the reuse of frames, junction boxes, intact broken glass, solar cells and EVA sheets. The module disassembyl line. Image: NPC Incorporated

How does envie use disassembly equipment to dismantle PV panels?

“Envie will utilize our disassembly equipment to dismantle PV panels and then cooperate with Rosi, a French company that developed recycling processes allowing to separate and recover metals such as silver and high purity silicon from the PV cells,” it further explained.

Can solar panels be recycled?

Solar panels should be treated carefully as they may cause electric shock. Awareness of such risk, however, is still very low. We started to develop solar panel recycling technology in 2013, to solve this problem. Recycling glass, weight of which takes around 70 to 80 percent of a panel, is impossible if there are metals.

When did Nedo start promoting PV system recycling?

In 2014 and 2015 consecutively, we joined the development project of PV recycling technology of NEDO with cooperating companies and succeeded in commercialization. The result of our R&D was published in the Guidelines for Promoting PV System Recycling (2016) by the Ministry of Environment in 2016 as a reference.

Can solar panels cause electric shock?

Currently, in many countries including Japan, solar panels are just shredded as general industrial wastes, leaving valuables such as silver and copper uncollected. Solar panels should be treated carefully as they may cause electric shock. Awareness of such risk, however, is still very low.