The bill is coming due because California has been a pioneer in pushing for rooftop solar power.
The state showered subsidies on homeowners who installed photovoltaic panels but didn't have a plan to dispose of them. The panels were purchased under those programs for 25 years.
Toxic heavy metals can be found in many of the components that are already in the landfill.
Natalie Click is a PhD candidate in materials science at the University of Arizona who studies the issue. A lot of the toxic chemicals and materials are going to leak into the ground once it's put into the landfill.
According to estimates from industry leaders and data from the International Renewable Energy Agency, only 1 in 10 panels are recycled.
There is a looming challenge over how to handle truckloads of contaminated waste.
It's supposed to be green. It's all about the money.
The state of California was the first to use solar power. The price of solar panels was not brought down until 2006 when the California Solar Initiative was formed. The subsidies were given for installing solar panels.
The measure brought down the cost of solar panels and boosted the share of electricity produced by the sun. Solar power now accounts for 15% of the state's power because of the measures.
Questions about how to handle the toxic waste that would accrue years later were never fully addressed as California focused on its renewable energy program. Regulators and panel manufacturers realize that they don't have the capacity to handle what comes next
An assistant professor at the Haskayne School of Business in Canada said that trash is likely to arrive sooner than anticipated. Not much thought has been given to the end of life of these technologies.
The industry's capacity is woefully unprepared for the deluge of waste that is likely to come, according to an article co-written by him.
It is a problem across the country, not just in California. The solar industry is expected to double in size between 2020 and 2030.
The glass, silver and Silicon are very difficult to recover from a typical photovoltaic panel.
The vice president of We Recycle Solar said there will be an increase in solar panels entering the waste stream in the next decade or so. It has never been a question.
Most of We Recycle Solar's business comes from California but the company has no facilities in the state. The panels are put in a truck and taken to a site in Arizona. California's permitting system for toxic materials makes it difficult to open a business.
It isn't easy to recycle solar panels. To separate the aluminum frame and junction box from the panel, highly specialized equipment and workers are needed. It is possible to heat panels to recoverSilicon. The panels are classified as hazardous in most states.
The economics of the process don't make sense.
A small amount of materials are recovered from each panel. Orben said even recycling panels at scale wouldn't be more economical because most of the processing costs are tied to labor.
Recovering solar- grade Silicon is the focus of most research on photovoltaic panels.
The incentives against recycling are skewed by that. It costs between $20 and $30 to recycle a panel instead of sending it to a landfill, according to the National Renewable Energy Lab.
Most experts think that is where most of the panels are going to end up. It is anyones guess. There isn't a single system for tracking where all the panels are going.
The California Department of Toxic Substances collected data on panels that were recycled. The agency counted 335 panels that were accepted for recycling if the handler took more than 200 pounds.
The department expects the number of installed solar panels in the next decade to exceed hundreds of millions in California, and that recycling will become more important as cheaper panels with shorter lifespans become more popular.
There is a lack of consumer awareness about the toxicity of materials in the panels and how to dispose of them.
There is an informational gap, a technological gap, and a financial gap that we are working on.
According to Bybee, the website is based on user-submitted information and isn't comprehensive. Fabtech Enterprises is one of the locations that ships panels to confidential partners.
The way in which panels can be collected and transported changed last year. All panels used to be treated as hazardous waste and restricted transportation and storage.
Both business and residential consumers were supposed to transport the cells themselves to a certified recycling facility. It is not clear how often that happened.
Panels can be collected at more than 400 universal waste handlers in California, where they are assessed and transported to disposal, reuse or recycle facilities. The new regulations were supposed to make it easier for people to turn in their panels, but they don't directly address recycling.
Orben said that the rule changes how material is handled, stored, and transported. It doesn't affect the way that material is processed.
The Solar Energy Industry Assn. began a program to recycle panels. The manager of the association's recycling company said it wants to help the group's partners develop compliant, cost-effective recycling services for end-of-life modules.
Jen Bristol is the Solar Energy Industry Assn.'s senior director of communications. We had to work with them to say that the processes they were using could accommodate the technology. Legislation is drafted to decrease the number of panels going to landfills.
Government subsidies can be used to make solar panel recycling economically viable.
Producers are responsible for supporting their products through responsible end-of-life disposal under a recently enacted regulation in Europe. End-of-life collection and recycling must be financed by producers of panels for countries in the EU.
The Photovoltaic Module Stewardship and Takeback Program will require solar panel manufacturers to finance end-of-life recycling. Implementation of the initiative will start in 25 years. There is only one producer-responsibility law in the US.
It is part of a larger strategy in the recycling industry called extended producer responsibility, in which the cost of recycling is built into the cost of a product. The business entities in the product chain are responsible for the end-of-life costs.
The problem can be solved by manufacturers at the beginning of the product chain, according to Jigar Shah, co- founder of Generate Capital. He said that policymakers should require manufacturers to come up with a design that makes panels easier to recycle.
It is more cost-effective for manufacturers to work together in order to reduce the cost of everything. He said that it happened through policy. People opting in doesn't happen.
Santa Monica and the California Product Stewardship Council collaborated on a solar panel recycling pilot program. The stewardship council conducted a survey of local residential solar owners and found many at a loss for what to do with end-of-life panels.
The best contact for us to learn about the number of panels in our region was the solar installers. Some contractors had to put them in their warehouses because there wasn't a good solution for where to put them.
The universal waste reclassification has made a big difference, cutting down on cost and paperwork needed for handling modules, and more handler can accept generators.
In a number of years, it will be a large issue. It would be important for local governments, county, state, and the federal government to have a plan in place for all the panels that will reach their end of life in a decade.
Kisela is a reporter.
The story was originally published in the LA Times.
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