Ideas for Entrepreneurs: The Coming Solar Panel Waste Business

Photo by Moritz Kindler on Unsplash

Since the early 2000s, the amount of solar panels being installed worldwide has been growing exponentially, and it’s expected to continue to do so for decades. By the end of 2015, an estimated 222 gigawatts worth of solar energy had been installed worldwide. According to a recent report (PDF) from the International Renewable Energy Agency, that number could reach 4,500 GW by 2050.

But the solar panels generating that power don’t last forever. The industry standard life span is about 25 to 30 years, and that means that some panels installed at the early end of the current boom aren’t long from being retired. And each passing year, more will be pulled from service — glass and metal photovoltaic modules that soon will start adding up to millions, and then tens of millions of metric tons of material.

Nate Berg
"What will happen to solar panels after their useful life is over?" 
GreenBiz.com, May 11, 2018

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In 1980, I spent part of a year spray painting expensive black paint on metal solar panels. If I recall correctly, the paint had been developed by NASA for satellite solar panels. As anyone who took physics in high school knows--or who has paid any attention to how their clothing reacts to sunlight--black surfaces  absorb more heat from the sun than white surfaces. 

EdNote: What I remember most about the job was that the paint cost $80 a gallon, which would be $288 today adjusted for inflation.

A couple years later we attended a church in St. Paul which had as one of its members the president of the company I painted panels for. It was no longer in business. The only way it could survive was through government subsidies, and the subsidies went dry. 

In 2009 the Obama administration co-signed a $535 million loan to Solyndra, a solar panel company which was going to lead the way to a solar-powered future. This, too, proved to be a failed venture that cost taxpayers money.

The problem here is that once things become politically driven instead of market-driven, they eventually cease to be a reliable venture because it's all too often driven by ideology rather than market forces and common sense.  

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The world's landscapes are going to look very different someday. Regarding those tens of millions of tons of discarded solar panels... how much of that can be recycled? If you start studying this potential market opportunity, is there a way to be on the forefront and build a business around this need?

That might be a million dollar question.

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Well, this is just an idea seed. If you have an entrepreneurial bent and want to start a business ahead of the growth curve, this may be something to look into. Who in your neighborhood is knowledgeable about recycling or disposing of the materials solar panels are made of? Probably no one. So why not become the expert in this field? 

The ball's in your court.