India’s existing and upcoming solar power capacities expected to generate 600 kilotonnes of waste by 2030

India, which generated 99 kilotonnes of solar photovoltaic (PV) waste till FY23, is expected to generate around 600 kilotonnes (KT) of additional waste from existing and upcoming solar power projects by 2030.

A recent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) reveals that most of this waste will come from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

As India expands its renewable capacity to go net-zero, the cumulative waste from its existing and new solar energy capacities, deployed between FY24 and FY30, would fill up 720 Olympic-size swimming pools by the end of this decade.

Solar waste

“The waste from India’s current installed solar capacity alone will increase to 340 KT by 2030, containing about 10 KT of silicon, 12-18 tonnes of silver and 16 tonnes of cadmium and tellurium — the majority of which are critical minerals for India,” CEEW study revealed.

• Also read: Closing the Loop. The importance of battery recycling in the circular economy

About 67 per cent of this waste is expected to be generated in five states, which are the top states for installed solar capacity. Rajasthan alone will account for 24 per cent of this waste, followed by Gujarat (16 per cent), and Karnataka (12 per cent).

Between FY14 and FY30, Rajasthan and Gujarat will have generated about 4.1 KT and 2.7 KT of waste per annum, respectively. The remaining three states could generate 2.0 to 1.2 KT of waste per annum.

The study found that the rest of the 260 KT of waste will come from new capacity that will be deployed in this decade. This is an opportunity for India to emerge as a leading hub of the circular economy for the solar industry and ensure resilient solar supply chains, it pointed out.

By 2040, the cumulative waste could increase more than eight times, to reach 4,981 KT. Around 74 per cent (3,689 KT) of this will come from existing capacity (until FY23), and the remaining 26 per cent (1,292 KT) from new installations (post-FY23).

This increase is because existing installations will have reached end-of-life (EoL). As for 2050, all the capacity deployed until 2030 will have reached EoL, generating a cumulative waste of 18,980 KT (about 19000 KT). The annual waste quantum between 2047 and 2050 would decrease as the majority of the installed capacity has already reached EoL and no new capacity additions are assumed post 2030.

The CEEW study emphasised that estimating PV waste is the first step in establishing a circular economy for the solar industry. Efforts from all stakeholders are required to create a comprehensive circular economy ecosystem.

The policy think tank suggested that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) should create and update a comprehensive database of installed solar capacity.

“As per the E-waste Management Rules, producers must build collection centres and storage facilities for the waste generated until 2035. As the solar modules are huge, the storage requirements could be large. With MNRE supporting solar PV recycling, manufacturers should also build recycling facilities of their own or outsource recycling operations to third-party vendors with expertise in solar PV recycling, according to their chosen business models,” CEEW said.

It also stressed that academia and industry should accelerate module recycling technology innovation, considering that solar module recycling is still at a nascent stage, with no commercially operational facility in India.

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