Challenges and strategic pathways for advancing circular economy in photovoltaic

The circular economy (CE) goal should be pursued by the photovoltaic (PV) industry, emphasizing the significance of sustainability for PV technology. In keeping with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and motivated by a commitment to CE principles, this step entails putting policies in place that extend the life of the PV modules. Solar power along with other renewable energies are being used more and more as a cost-effective and ecologically friendly way to decarbonize the energy system. This research adds to an integrated innovations barriers pathway synthesis that clearly links circular design/manufacturing decisions to end-of-life recycling performance and to the policy/business levers required for implementation, in contrast to recent PV recycling reviews that mainly catalog processes. This keeps recycling and keeping value as the main goals at the end of the PV lifecycle (design, manufacturing, use, and end-of-life). SunPower’s design-for-recycling initiatives and First Solar’s recycling program are two examples of successful case studies that show how important design-for-recycling, working together with many stakeholders, regulatory support, and getting consumers involved are. These illustrations highlight the possibility of enhanced recovery efficiency and financial savings. Regulations such as the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive suggest that extended producer responsibility requirements may eventually enhance formal collection and recycling performance. Development of recycling technologies, understanding consumer behavior, coordinating international regulations, and encouraging cross-sector cooperation require further research and consideration. In addition to the investments made on the recycling technologies, the consumer participation, and the co-ordination of the policies across the borders, the policymakers will need to work on the facilitation of the financial mechanisms and regulatory capacity, especially in low-income cases, to enable the fair adoption and to close the loopholes.