Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes
Climate change forces countries and organisations to transition towards renewable energies (RE). The transition requires a substantial amount of renewable energy installations, such as PV (photovoltaic) systems. EU solar cells (main PV panels component) manufacturing capacity in 2019 were only 0,2%...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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UAB Sustainability for Regions
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Insights into Regional Development |
| Online Access: | https://jssidoi.org/ird/article/73 |
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| author | Tadas Radavičius Arvid van der Heide Wolfram Palitzsch Tom Rommens Julius Denafas Manuela Tvaronavičienė |
| author_facet | Tadas Radavičius Arvid van der Heide Wolfram Palitzsch Tom Rommens Julius Denafas Manuela Tvaronavičienė |
| author_sort | Tadas Radavičius |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change forces countries and organisations to transition towards renewable energies (RE). The transition requires a substantial amount of renewable energy installations, such as PV (photovoltaic) systems. EU solar cells (main PV panels component) manufacturing capacity in 2019 were only 0,2% compared to the world producers’ capacity. It makes the European Union energy transition dependable on the foreign countries. In addition, the supply chain of the solar industry is facing issues of silicon solar panels having critical raw material (CRM) silver and toxic materials such as lead. The solar panels themselves are a complex combination of components making recovery of the materials a difficult process (Ha, 2020). These and further issues of the lack of circularity in the solar value chain endangers reliable access to solar energy in the long term. The goal of this research is to increase the circularity in the industry by designing technologically the product in a circular way. In order to achieve this goal, the authors blended information provided in the contemporary scientific literature with the shared expertise of producers and other stakeholders. Insights about the possible technological design changes of the solar panels, their issues, and their impact on the supply chain were gathered through an online workshop and EU Horizon 2020 project CIRCUSOL. As a result of the research, the authors proposed product circularity improvement’ steps and specific technological solutions, which would allow enhancing circular solar industry supply chain. The proposed technological solutions are radio-frequency identification (RFID), lead-free ribbons with bismuth as lead replacement, an electrically conductive adhesive (ECA), new industrial cell encapsulation (N.I.C.E), and fluorine-free back sheet. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-085d2f488df4465b96e858e318e82575 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2669-0195 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | UAB Sustainability for Regions |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Insights into Regional Development |
| spelling | doaj-art-085d2f488df4465b96e858e318e825752025-08-20T01:59:26ZengUAB Sustainability for RegionsInsights into Regional Development2669-01952021-09-0133103010.9770/IRD.2021.3.3(1)Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changesTadas Radavičiushttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5222-7499Arvid van der Heidehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7589-4526Wolfram Palitzschhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5780-1322Tom Rommenshttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5952-5288Julius Denafashttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4698-9403Manuela Tvaronavičienėhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9667-3730Climate change forces countries and organisations to transition towards renewable energies (RE). The transition requires a substantial amount of renewable energy installations, such as PV (photovoltaic) systems. EU solar cells (main PV panels component) manufacturing capacity in 2019 were only 0,2% compared to the world producers’ capacity. It makes the European Union energy transition dependable on the foreign countries. In addition, the supply chain of the solar industry is facing issues of silicon solar panels having critical raw material (CRM) silver and toxic materials such as lead. The solar panels themselves are a complex combination of components making recovery of the materials a difficult process (Ha, 2020). These and further issues of the lack of circularity in the solar value chain endangers reliable access to solar energy in the long term. The goal of this research is to increase the circularity in the industry by designing technologically the product in a circular way. In order to achieve this goal, the authors blended information provided in the contemporary scientific literature with the shared expertise of producers and other stakeholders. Insights about the possible technological design changes of the solar panels, their issues, and their impact on the supply chain were gathered through an online workshop and EU Horizon 2020 project CIRCUSOL. As a result of the research, the authors proposed product circularity improvement’ steps and specific technological solutions, which would allow enhancing circular solar industry supply chain. The proposed technological solutions are radio-frequency identification (RFID), lead-free ribbons with bismuth as lead replacement, an electrically conductive adhesive (ECA), new industrial cell encapsulation (N.I.C.E), and fluorine-free back sheet.https://jssidoi.org/ird/article/73 |
| spellingShingle | Tadas Radavičius Arvid van der Heide Wolfram Palitzsch Tom Rommens Julius Denafas Manuela Tvaronavičienė Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes Insights into Regional Development |
| title | Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes |
| title_full | Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes |
| title_fullStr | Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes |
| title_short | Circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes |
| title_sort | circular solar industry supply chain through product technological design changes |
| url | https://jssidoi.org/ird/article/73 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tadasradavicius circularsolarindustrysupplychainthroughproducttechnologicaldesignchanges AT arvidvanderheide circularsolarindustrysupplychainthroughproducttechnologicaldesignchanges AT wolframpalitzsch circularsolarindustrysupplychainthroughproducttechnologicaldesignchanges AT tomrommens circularsolarindustrysupplychainthroughproducttechnologicaldesignchanges AT juliusdenafas circularsolarindustrysupplychainthroughproducttechnologicaldesignchanges AT manuelatvaronaviciene circularsolarindustrysupplychainthroughproducttechnologicaldesignchanges |