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Installing solar energy in a building in Ho Chi Minh City – Photo: NGOC HIEN
Solar panels that are discarded if not properly buried can cause soil and water pollution due to the generation of heavy metals or dangerous emissions that can affect human health. in case of fire.
Vietnam Environment Administration
After 20-25 years, these photovoltaic panels will end their useful life. Many argue that the panels can handle, non-toxic, but there are also many danger warnings.
Just install first, processing for further calculation
Installing a solar energy system on the roof for more than a year, Ms Nguyen Thi Hoa (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City) said that this 6 kWp system helps the family save a lot of electricity costs and is expected to keep maintaining this system for 20 years. However, Ms. Hoa did not know how to handle it afterwards, the installation company also generally responded that there will be recycling technology in the future.
The director of a company that has installed dozens of megawatts of solar energy also said that for now, simply installing it to enjoy incentives, and the treatment of the panels at the end of the useful life of this unit has not yet counted. “It is possible that the company (DN) that sells the product will be withdrawn from the market or if necessary, then take it to recycle because in nature, the materials of this panel are recyclable” – he said.
With more than 2.5 million solar panels in operation, Trung Nam Group said that at the end of their life cycle, the panels in its projects will be managed in accordance with environmental standards. But currently there is no standard for handling these panels.
Most manufacturers have not committed to withdrawing
Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Ms. Nguyen Thuy Ngan, SolarBK’s brand manager, said that more than 90% of the components that make up photovoltaic panels are recyclable materials. Recycling technologies exist in the world, SolarBK is both a manufacturer and a business unit, which is why it has researched recycling technologies and methods.
However, since the Vietnamese market has only flourished for a few years, while the life cycle of each of these panels is approximately 20 years, now is not the right time to implement a treatment plant. According to Ms Ngan, this company has made a written commitment to partners about the recovery and disposal of the panels after the end of their life cycle. Currently, the damaged panels are still recovered by this company, separated into construction materials.
Truong Cong Vu, CEO of Global Energy Joint Stock Company (authorized dealer in the south of a large battery company), said that although manufacturers have no commitments to recall products, but many panel components such as tempered glass, edge aluminum, plastic sheet … in Vietnam can be recycled.
Mr Vu said that in the past nobody had raised the problem of panel cleaning, but when the market was big enough, many solar cell cleaning companies and cleaning robots were born.
“Only in some areas where the battery is dense in the farms, the light is not absorbed into the ground but is released into the atmosphere causing the greenhouse effect, local heating in a certain area, the rest of the panels do not What effect on the environment “- said Mr. Vu.
Source: National Center for Cargo Dispatch – Graphics: TAN DAT
Need to force the manufacturer to withdraw
However, Professor Dr. Dang Thi Kim Chi, from the Vietnam Association for Nature and Environmental Protection, emphasized that solar panels after expiration, although recovered, are also difficult to handle. This product is not only difficult to decompose in the natural environment, but it also contains heavy metals, so if left in the environment it will be very dangerous.
Although solar energy projects have been developed recently, it must be recognized that not all solar panels have a useful life of 15 to 20 years. There will be batteries that will fail soon, they will fail immediately, so the problem of how to handle them must be studied now.
In particular, with the current fact that there is no specialized basis for dealing with damaged solar batteries, the legal corridor for this is unclear, Prof. Dr. Dang Thi Kim Chi said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment The university and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should study this issue early to have strict regulations from the time new projects are developed.
Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Associate Professor Dr. Vo Viet Cuong (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education) said that current technologies have recycled 96 to 98% of photovoltaic panels. According to Mr. Cuong, during the production of photovoltaic panels, there are emissions, but when using it, it does not generate emissions or affect human health.
However, in terms of state management, Mr. Cuong said legalization is necessary to force manufacturers to recall their products at the end of their life cycle rather than attributing them to investors. Currently, manufacturers selling equipment in Vietnam are not required to recall the product, but if they want to sell it in the US market or in advanced countries, the manufacturer must commit to recall the product when the expiration date has passed.
It will guide the management of waste panels
Speaking with Tuoi Tre, a leader of the Vietnam Environment Administration (MONRE) said that according to some studies around the world, the use of solar cells can cause some environmental impacts such as: occupying an area of land and causing heat pollution , affecting human vision.
According to the Directorate General for the Environment, the production of solar panels uses some heavy metals such as Cd, Si … However, in fact, solar panels are products with the function of absorbing energy. The amount of sunlight (photovoltaic) and converted into electricity, differs in properties from batteries, and other batteries have the function of charging. Therefore discarded solar panels do not belong to the types of batteries or waste cells with hazardous waste codes.
The head of the Vietnam Environmental Administration said that in the revised Environmental Protection Law just passed by the National Assembly, there are regulations that require organizations and individuals that manufacture and import products and packages on the list of regulations that must be reprocessed. . in accordance with the required recycling rate and specifications.
In addition, it is also stipulated that organizations and individuals who manufacture or import the above products and packages can choose to recycle products and packages through self-organizing product recycling, packaging, or by making financial contributions. Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund to support product and packaging recycling.
The leader also said that after the approval of the Environmental Protection Law, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will advise the Government to place the solar panels on the list of products that manufacturers and importers have to withdraw and recycle. As soon as there is no new regulation, the ministry will guide the management of waste solar panels in accordance with the regulations on waste management.
Solar PV is only clean when batteries are recycled
