Teruel could become the epicenter of recycling photovoltaic panels. This is the big bet made by the Aragonese sustainability consultancy Ibersyd, which plans to invest around 2.5 million euros in the construction and start-up in 2024 of a plant to process, reuse and value this waste, with an initial capacity of 1,000 tons per year. The company is now in the research phasebut it already has a production process prototype that allows 93% of the materials to be sold on the market that make up these capital goods.
The project is called European Photovoltaic Recycling Center (Cerfo) and although its final location has not yet been decided, its promoters are clear that it will be implemented in one of the 33 municipalities that are part of the area of just transition from the province of Teruel, affected by the dismantling of the coal industry. Within a radius of 300 kilometers from this enclave there is capacity to install up to 30 gigawatts of power photovoltaic.
The headquarters of the startup, a subsidiary of Ibersyd and established in 2021, is currently in the entrepreneurship center of the Aragonese Institute for Development (IAF) in Andorra. It currently has six workers and forecasts suggest that it would generate around 15 jobs when the industrial plant comes into operation.
Today there are no plants in Spain recycling with sufficient capacity for this waste, currently classified as electrical and electronic waste (RAEE) and which is around 2,000 tons per year. There is only one that carries out the complete process as it is a small market. “We saw that there was a need as there was no comprehensive solution and we began to investigateensures Jesús Alijarde, CEO of Ibersyd.
22,000 tons of waste in 2028
According to the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (Ciemat), in the most conservative scenario, an annual generation of about 10,000 tons of waste of this type between 2022 and 2027. The peak is expected for 2028, with some 22,000 tons, so the capacity of the existing recycling plants today is manifestly insufficient. Cerfo would be therefore the first plant in Spain and in Europe that is fully and specifically dedicated to the recycling of photovoltaic panels. Only in Italia A similar entrepreneurial initiative is being promoted, according to Alijarde.
In collaboration with the Circe technology centerCerfo achieved a year ago a subsidy of 420,000 euros in the call for R&D grants for the circular economy launched by the Department of Economy, Planning and Employment of the Government of Aragon. The investment in this innovation and research project, which will last three years (from 2021 to 2023), amounts to one million eurosyes “We already have a production process that provides a solution to the market, although there are elements of improvement. We are going to take the project to an industrial scale,” says Alijarde.
If all goes well, the processing of the plant will begin next year and in 2024 the construction and commissioning will be undertaken with an initial capacity of 1,000 tons of waste per year. The company’s goal is to recycle as many materials as possible that make up a photovoltaic park, whose average life cycle is about 30 years. “Now we are in a position to take advantage of and reuse 93% of the materials,” he points out.
A photovoltaic panel consists, ordered from greater quantity to lesser in terms of weight, of glass, aluminum frameEVA copolymer to seal, photovoltaic cells, connection box and a protective Tedlar layer.