As solar energy deployment continues to grow, improving the recovery and reuse of valuable materials from end-of-life photovoltaic (PV) modules is becoming increasingly important for a more circular solar industry.
Current recycling methods mainly recover materials such as aluminium and glass, resulting in an overall material recovery rate of around 18%. Higher-value resources used in PV modules are often lost, including silicon, which alone accounts for around 40% of a module’s cost.
APOLLO aims to change this by increasing the material recovery rate from 18% to 93% and enabling valuable resources to remain in use within the PV value chain.
The project is developing innovative technologies to recover high-quality silicon, glass and metals from end-of-life PV modules and support their reuse in new solar panels. At the same time, APOLLO is working towards PV modules designed with their future recycling in mind, helping to close the loop across the photovoltaic lifecycle.
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Watch our short YouTube video to learn more about APOLLO’s approach.
