Avoiding Environmentally Harmful Materials and Increasing the Lifetime Energy Yield of Solar Modules

Until now, the purchase decision for solar modules has been primarily driven by price. Evaluation criteria such as recyclability, CO2 emissions during production, or the avoidance of environmentally harmful substances play a subordinate role. An eco-design regulation developed at EU level with an associated energy label for solar modules is intended to keep products that exceed certain limits off the market and provide customers with information on the sustainability of solar modules. The aim of the research project is to develop sustainable solar modules, manufacturing and recycling processes and demonstrate them on a production scale that exceed the planned EU regulation on ecodesign and energy labeling.

1. Recyclability and use of secondary raw materials,
2. low material and energy consumption in module production,
3. avoidance of environmentally harmful substances,
4. repairability of the solar module,
5. increase in annual energy yield and module reliability (degradation rate, service life, failure rate)

The following sustainability features are being developed in particular:

The material and solar module developments are evaluated holistically using a life cycle analysis. The goal is to achieve a carbon footprint of less than 20 g CO2eg/kWh and to identify concepts that eliminate the need for lead, antimony, and fluorine in the module while maintaining costs, enable recycling as a secondary raw material, allow repair of bypass diodes, and exhibit low degradation and a long service life.