Thailand: Shedding light on solar panels

Thailand: Shedding light on solar panels

Thailand is among a number of countries trying to cut reliance on fossil
fuels by highlighting renewable energy development, but the colossal task of
managing solar panel waste remains a bottleneck, dimming the light of
hopeful advancement in renewable energy.

The government aims to increase the proportion of energy that comes from
renewable sources to 30% by 2036 and to 40% (or 19,000 megawatts) soon
thereafter, under Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's policy.

Since Thailand opened the solar farm market to private players in 2008,
renewable power-generating capacity (mostly generated from solar farms) has
skyrocketed.

In the first quarter of this year, renewable capacity was almost 12,000MW,
or 13% of the country's total capacity.

Energy policymakers will soon let individual households generate their own
power through solar rooftop panels. More solar panels will result in lower
power costs for homes.

While regulators have discussed the benefits of rooftop panels, there has
been little talk about these panels' lifespan, nor about how to dispose of
equipment that is no longer functional.

According to studies, millions of disposed solar photovoltaic units (PVs)
will flood Thailand. Policymakers have yet to figure out what to do with
this waste, which would release a substantial amount of toxic chemicals into
the environment. According to estimates, the PV waste disposal cost will be
in the billions of baht.

The local solar segment has grown rapidly in the past few years, fuelled by
Chinese investors who moved their production base from Europe, where
anti-dumping surcharges increased production costs.

In 2015, total new foreign investment in solar panel production jumped more
than 800% from the previous year to 45.2 billion baht. Chinese entities were
the largest investors. Extrapolating from the investment numbers, the solar
panels produced in Thailand last year could generate more than 1,000MW of
power.

Thailand officially introduced its solar power policy in 2015 as part of its
power development plan. But the country has been running a solar power pilot
programme since 2001, providing commercial solar farm licences since 2008.

According to a Chulalongkorn University study sponsored by the Thailand
Research Fund (TRF), solar projects installed from 2001 to date will
eventually generate 350,000-500,000 tonnes of solar panel waste.

Solar panels operate for an average of 25 years, which means all panels
installed to date in Thailand will begin being disposed by at least 2026.
Millions of wasted panels will eventually flood the country in the next 5-10
years.

A considerable portion of panels has already been fixed, reinstalled and
dumped into community waste cycles already.

"The most concerning issue is that some expired solar panels have already
been assimilated into community waste, and there are no agencies to deal
with them appropriately," said Asst Prof Pichaya Rachdawong of the
Engineering Faculty of Chulalongkorn University, who is part of the team
that conducted the survey.

CURRENT MANAGEMENT

The study, entitled "Management of Expired Solar PV Panels", looked at two
types of solar panels being used in the world: silicon-based PV and
thin-film PV.

These two types consist of recycled metal parts and toxic chemicals that
damage health and need complicated extraction processes to be reused.

The most dangerous chemical substance in expired silicon-based solar panels
is lead, which can contaminate foods and result in lead poisoning.

A major toxic chemical used in thin-film solar panels is cadmium, open
exposure to which causes several types of cancer, destroys respiratory
systems and can lead to itai-itai disease -- a name coined by locals in
Toyama, Japan after a mass cadmium poisoning that resulted from raw
materials mining. Cadmium poisoning can also cause softening of the bones
and kidney failure.

Without appropriate measures to separate, recycle or destroy obsolete solar
PVs, it would take about 12.5 million baht per tonne to treat and look after
the health of people who were affected by the toxic chemicals, according to
the study.

The boom in solar power led Thailand, a major importer of fossil fuels, to
pledge full support for solar farm developers since the start of the 21st
century.

At that time, Thailand did not have appropriate regulations to manage toxic
waste from solar projects. There was only one law authorising the Industry
Ministry's Department of Industrial Works (DIW) to oversee industrial waste
elimination issues across the country.

And with limited regulations, energy policymakers then defined solar waste
as only one type of industrial waste and put a note at the end of licences
granted to solar project developers -- outlining how they must follow the
DIW regulations.

But the DIW itself also has a limited ability to deal with 37.6 million
tonnes of industrial and toxic waste. The imminent addition of millions of
tonnes of solar waste would be beyond the management of the DIW, which 15
years ago formed a plan to set up sites in six provinces to handle waste
management for industrial estates, but it was never carried out.

Asst Prof Pichaya said Thailand is capable of sorting recyclables from
industrial waste, but the country does not have the technologies to extract
toxic chemicals from expired solar panels or those necessary to purify
valuable metals in waste.

"We need more advanced technology to extract precious metals from the waste,
which in itself would create a lucrative business," Asst Prof Pichaya said.

WASTE MANAGEMENT MODELS

Europe ranks as the biggest solar power producer in term of capacity, with
Germany recognised as having the best solar waste management.

In Germany, solar panel producers must pay for solar waste management and
solar waste elimination, with the duties ranging from gathering expired
solar panels from solar farms and rooftops, material separation and sending
separated material to be recycled.

"Germany set up a PV cycle to process all expired solar panels in Europe in
2010," Asst Prof Pichaya said, adding that the PV cycle gathered about
13,000 tonnes of expired solar panels in that year, of which 7,600 tonnes
came from Germany.

In Japan, an archipelago with limited natural resources for power
generation, imported raw materials are necessary for solar panel production
and the details of solar waste management are slightly different from those
in Europe.

Japan has two major laws created to manage solar waste: the first encourages
producers to generate less waste from solar panels, and the second aims to
support consumers in recycling as much solar waste as possible.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is responsible for solar
waste management, dealing with about 18 million pieces of not only solar
panels, but also all electronic waste from 44 million households across the
country.

With the massive accumulation of electronic waste, Japan's comprehensive
waste management system comprises 80,000 electronic waste stations where
consumers and solar power developers can dump waste. The waste is then taken
to 380 stations across the country for waste management and recycling.

The extensive use of solar panels has created a new business segment that
generates revenue from solar panels and electronic waste, operated by major
electronics companies in Japan.

WHAT ABOUT THAILAND?

There is no shortcut to tackling waste stemming from solar panels in
Thailand, and comments from players in the solar energy sector have not
shone a light on the issue.

Energy permanent secretary Areepong Bhoocha-oom said the government is in
talks with other state agencies, solar panel suppliers and solar power
developers who would potentially be responsible for waste management before
putting the task under a code of practice from the Energy Regulatory
Commission.

"We hope that policymakers can finalise regulations suitable for dealing
with obsolete solar panels by next year," Mr Areepong said.

He said energy policymakers hope that regulations for redundant solar panels
and waste are finalised in 2018.

DIW director-general Mongkol Pruekwatana said his department plans to have a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) among solar developers in order to deal
with expired solar panels.

The MoU remains vague, however, subject to mixed responses from solar farm
developers.

SPCG Plc chairwoman and chief executive Wandee Khunchornyakong said most
solar panels used by SPCG are classified as premium grade, nearly 100% of
which can be recycled and would have no adverse impact on the environment.

She did not specify whether the company itself would be responsible for the
waste.

SPCG was the first solar farm operator in Thailand, having begun operations
in April 2010, when adder rates (the rate state utilities paid operators)
were 8.5 baht per unit.

BCPG Plc chief executive Bandit Sapianchai proposed setting up a fund
through collecting levies from operators and related agencies. Since solar
waste management has high operation costs, energy policymakers could raise
funds in advance to have sufficient capital to deal with potential waste
problems that could arise.

"However, the levy collection rate and process should be agreed upon by both
solar developers and power consumers," Mr Bandit said.

Conversely, Thai Solar Energy Plc chief executive Somphop Prompanapitak
brushed off waste management concerns, saying it will take more than 10
years for solar panels in Thailand to become redundant, and by that time
more advanced technology can be expected to emerge to handle the burgeoning
problem.

He also believes that improved technologies to produce solar panels that are
not as reliant on toxic substances will be developed, lessening the problem
in the future.

"And I think there will be a new segment to help manage solar waste in the
future anyway," Mr Somphop said. "There is no need to worry about it."

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1310191/shedding-light-on-solar-pan
els

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com