Holistic Assessment of Monocrystalline Silicon (mono-Si) Solar Panels with Recycled Content vs. Virgin-Grade Materials

With the rising demand for lower carbon energy technologies to combat global warming, the market for solar photovoltaics (PVs) has grown significantly. Inevitably, the amount of solar PV waste will increase as panels are reaching their performance end-of-life (EoL), posing major challenges in waste management, critical metal availability, and toxic material leakage. To implement the cradle-to-cradle (C2C) philosophy in this industry, several PV recycling solutions have emerged to prevent these issues from hindering the expansion of renewable energy technologies. A life cycle assessment (LCA) in this work seeks to compare the net environmental impacts (including carbon savings) of monocrystalline silicon panels (mono-Si) with virgin-grade materials compared to panels with a percentage of recycled material. A qualitative evaluation of recycling mono-Si solar panels will address the feasibility of implementation, regarding cost of material recovery, impact on human and environmental health, regulatory adjustments, and technical performance focusing on power conversion efficiency (PCE).