NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued a notice to the Central government on safe disposal of damaged solar panels. It comes to light that damaged or end-of-life solar panels have no proper infrastructure to dispose of and recycle Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.
Users who bought solar panels over a decade ago or got under the government scheme Kusum Yojana have no clue about where to dispose of the hazardous solar panel waste after the end of its life or damage. The absence of proper disposal infrastructure leads to burying of these panels in the agricultural field or sending them to landfills which adversely affects the soil quality.
A bench of Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Chairperson and Expert Member Dr. A. Senthil Vel at the NGT has issued notice to the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), and Ministry of New Renewable Energy. The Tribunal directed the respondent to file their reply a week of the hearing on 10 February 2025. The Tribunal also pointed out that a similar issue related to E-waste management is pending before the court.
The original application is registered on the basis of the letter petition sent by the applicant Ashish Singh Chandel, a farmer in Village Sapai, Kanpur, Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.
The applicant has raised environmental hazards likely to be in the near future as there is no proper disposal and recycling of Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. Solar panels are now being widely coming in use as a good source of energy and spreading even in rural areas.
The Tribunal order underlined the issues raised by Chandel such as limited scrap value, environmental hazard of landfills and no disposal infrastructure.
The order states that scrap dealers only accept the aluminium, copper and glass components of PV Panels. The remaining materials, including polymers, silicon and other substances, are non-recyclable and must be sent to landfills. Further, PV panels contain heavy metals like lead and cadmium, which could leach into soil and water causing long-term environmental damage.
Ajay Mathur, Director General of International Solar Alliance told this newspaper in an interview that globally, there is a lack of standards for making solar panels from recycled solar waste.
“Current modern solar technology is different from older solar technology. So it is difficult to recycle and use the same material in the new solar panels,” said Mathur.