End-of-Life Management Best Practice Guidelines (Version 1.0)

Welcome to the first edition of SolarPower Europe’s End-of-Life (EoL) Management Best Practice Guidelines. In 2023, over 55 GW of solar was installed across the EU in yet another record-breaking year for the industry. This record should be celebrated, and it means that Europe now has a cumulative installed capacity of 263 GW and one of the oldest solar fleets in the world. A part of the existing fleet will start reaching EoL in the next decade, with increasingly more waste being produced as time progresses. This makes the question of how to handle significant solar PV waste streams, a pressing one. Moreover, what should the industry do with equipment that has been replaced, but still functions? Ensuring quality and circular EoL management of PV waste, is crucial to the sustainability of the industry and public acceptance of solar, as a responsible, clean source of energy.

Over the course of its seven years of operation, the workstream has developed five sets of Best Practice Guidelines, covering Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC), Operations & Maintenance (O&M), Asset Management, the Lifecycle Quality Best Practice Guidelines, and now the End-of-Life Best Practice Guidelines.

This document is the result of a year of intensive work by 30 leading solar experts, from over 15 companies. The contributors work across the solar PV industry, and they include EPC and O&M service providers, producer responsibility organisations (PROs), Asset Managers, Asset Owners, manufacturers, legal experts, digital solutions providers, technical advisors, investors and organisations.

The first edition of the EoL Best Practice Guidelines is an industry-first set of recommendations on how to boost the sustainability of solar. With 30 contributors, they constitute the most complete overview of how to handle key components of a solar system once they have reached the end of their useful lives, including their decommissioning and replacement. The guidelines also highlight the key elements of European legislation that apply to waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), and govern the EoL of PV components, going into detail on the collection and recycling schemes that are available to the solar industry. With circularity also becoming an increasingly important theme, the guidelines offer recommendations on how to assess the potential for second life of components of a PV system.

The workstream has been busy in 2023, launching a new digital platform for the Best Practice Guidelines, making them more searchable and accessible than ever before. A new jobs guide for job seekers looking to enter the industry was launched at the SolarPower Summit. There has also been a minor update to the EPC Best Practice Guidelines contracting section that can be found on solarbestpractices.com. Branching out from previous years, the workstream has been involved in adapting the European Agrisolar Best Practice Guidelines to the Indian context, building on the work done on the Indian editions of the O&M and EPC Best Practice Guidelines. This builds on an extremely active 2022, which saw the launch of EPC Best Practice Guidelines – Sub-Saharan Africa edition and the Jordanian versions of the EPC and O&M Best Practice Guidelines.

We thank our members for their extraordinary level of engagement, which reflects the importance of lifecycle quality for the solar industry. We will continue the work in 2024 and invite interested stakeholders to join our community to be part of this undertaking.

Legal information

Chair of the Lifecycle Quality workstream: Wojtek Swietochowski, ABO Wind.

Coordinator of the SolarPower Europe Lifecycle Quality Workstream: Benjamin Clarke, SolarPower Europe.

Contact: info@solarpowereurope.org.

Contributors and co-authors: Anaïs Gouabault, Soren; Arende van der Pol, Sunrock; Benjamin Clarke, SolarPower Europe; Brecht van der Laan, Holland Solar; Calin Cas, Sunrock; Carolin Apostel, SMA; Christian Scholz, SMA; Christopher Tolle, Greentech; Claire Morin, SolarPower Europe; Daniela Ariolli, BayWa r.e.; David Moser, EURAC Research; Derek Steeman, Holland Solar; Guillermo Oviedo, BayWa r.e.; Hanna Dittmar, SolarPower Europe; Ioannis Tsanakas, CEA Ines; Jan Clyncke, PV CYCLE; Jan-Willem Jehee, ZonneRecycling Netherlands; Jeroen Gjaltema, Holland Solar; Kate Blades, Lightsource bp; Luis Rodrigues, Lightsource bp; Mariyana Yaneva, Renergy; Martin Lütgens, ABO Wind; Mathieu Delpierre, Fronius; Max Langkabel, Greentech; Nicolas Defrenne, Soren; Nicoleta Lipcaneanu, SolarPower Europe; Patricio Sanchez, PI Berlin; Pia Alina Lange, Trina Solar; Raffaele Rossi, SolarPower Europe; Thomas Sauer, TEXXECURE; Wojtek Swietochowski, ABO Wind.

Acknowledgements: SolarPower Europe would like to extend a special thanks to all members that contributed their knowledge and experience to this report. This would never have been possible without their continuous support.

Project Information: The SolarPower Europe O&M Task Force officially started its work in April 2015, and it became the Lifecycle Quality Workstream in 2020, to cover O&M, Asset Management and EPC. It operates through frequent exchanges and meetings. The workstream’s flagship reports are the O&M Best Practice Guidelines, the Asset Management Best Practice Guidelines, the EPC Best Practice Guidelines, and the Lifecycle Quality Guidelines. They reflect the experience and views of a considerable share of the European solar industry today. There has been no external funding or sponsorship for these reports.

Thanks to our sponsor members:

Disclaimer: This report has been prepared by SolarPower Europe. It is provided to recipients for general information only. Nothing in it should be interpreted as an offer or recommendation of any products, services or financial products. This report does not constitute technical, investment, legal, tax or any other advice. Recipients should consult with their own technical, financial, legal, tax or other advisors as needed. This report is based on sources believed to be accurate. However, SolarPower Europe does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in this report. SolarPower Europe assumes no obligation to update any information contained herein. SolarPower Europe will not be held liable for any direct or indirect damage incurred by the use of the information provided and will not provide any indemnities.

Design: Onehemisphere, Sweden. Email: contact@onehemisphere.se.

Cover image: Ⓒ Shutterstock.com

ISBN: 9789464669114.

Published: January 2024.

Members of the Lifecycle Quality Workstream

SolarPower Europe would like to thank the members of its Lifecycle Quality Workstream that contributed to this report including: