Australia's solar waste piles up

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

Isabella Higgins: Australia's rooftop solar boom has been a runaway success, slashing household power bills and cutting emissions. But there lies a growing problem. The industry is warning of a looming tsunami of solar waste, with millions of panels being ripped out and no national recycling scheme in place. This story from national business reporter Rianna Whitson.
Rhiana Wilson: Australia now has more than 4 million solar powered homes. Add in commercial sites and that's an estimated 150 million panels across the country. But they can have a limited lifespan.
Jake Warner: So sometimes it can be workmanship, maybe an older system can fail. It's also increased technology.
Rhiana Wilson: Solar panel installer Jake Warner says new federal battery subsidies are speeding up the transition and the waste.
Speaker 4: I think post July 1 we'll see another uptick of those who have been looking into a complete solar and battery system from scratch.
Rhiana Wilson: The Smart Energy Council says about 4 million panels are decommissioned every year, a figure set to double based on solar uptake alone, let alone batteries. Jake Warner says Australia is unprepared to handle the waste.
Jake Warner: Right now the challenge is that we don't really have these recycling facilities ready at scale, like what I think we're going to need in the next 10 years or so.
Rhiana Wilson: Currently, only about 10% of solar panels are recycled. The rest stockpiled, sent overseas, and to landfill. Darren Johannesson is from the Smart Energy Council.
Darren Johannesen : In a solar module, there are metals that are in short supply, copper and silver. And in fact, the silver that's contained inside solar modules equates to, in its totality, Australia's biggest silver mine. So landfilling these modules is wasting critical resources.
Rhiana Wilson: Darren Johannesson says it's costly for both the environment and the economy.
Darren Johannesen : By 2035, there'll be a 30% shortfall in globally in copper. And so the IEA, the International Energy Agency, is recommending that all countries adopt a regulatory policy framework that encourages recycling, so that we can use urban mining to bridge that 30% gap.
Rhiana Wilson: That'll require federal government action. Darren Johannesson says the industry has been waiting almost a decade for a mandatory stewardship scheme. That could involve a levy and manufacturers taking some responsibility for what happens to decommissioned panels. Darren Johannesson says without one, recycling solar panels doesn't stack up economically.
Darren Johannesen : There's a sense of general optimism that the government will act. And so investors are still prepared to invest. But for how long they'll stay in the market is anyone's guess. Nine years is a long time to be waiting for a national scheme. The time to act is now.
Isabella Higgins: Darren Johannesson from the Smart Energy Council, ending that report from business reporter Rianna Whitson. And in a statement, the federal government has acknowledged the importance of saving critical minerals from landfill, but hasn't said when a stewardship scheme for solar panels will be in place.